THE CONFLICT ROUND LENINGRAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 September 1941, Page 6

THE CONFLICT ROUND LENINGRAD

Millions of Men Engaged GERMAN BOASTS OF PROGRESS IN SOUTH HOPES OF REACHING CAUCASUS IN SIX WEEKS (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 11.55 a.m.) LONDON, September 18. The struggle around Leningrad is growing in intensity, with the Germans increasing their pressure and the Russians stiffening their defence. Between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 men are locked in a death grapple in this area. The Tass Agency says Russian infantry, supported by tanks, on one sector of the Leningrad front, recaptured two villages. Other Russian sources report further successful counter-attacks. The Berlin radio admitted that the Russians, on the Leningrad and central fronts, launched a series of counter-attacks on September 16, but said they failed to stem the German It is reported from Rome that the German guns are finding difficulty in making any impression on towers of steel, provided by lines of 52-ton Russian tanks, anchored around the permanent defences of Leningrad, with the tanks pouring out a murderous fire. . The Germans are doing their utmost to encircle Kiev, but it is increasingly clear that their main drive is switching against the Crimea. Axis sources in Ankara are publicising a prediction that Germany will carry the war to the Caucasian front within six weeks. A German communique says offensive operations in the Ukraine, eastwards of the Dnieper, are progressing irresistibly and adds that great successes have been achieved in fighting around the Leningrad fortifications.