BLOW FOR BLOW

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 September 1941, Page 5

BLOW FOR BLOW

DEALT TO THE ENEMY AT LENINGRAD MAGNIFICENT STAND BY DEFENDERS. , HAZARD FACED BY NAZIS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 21. Messages from Moscow state that the defenders of Leningrad are dealing out to the enemy blow for blow and are using the slogan: “Not a step will we retreat.” In a number of local skirmishes the Red Army is reported to have recaptured settlements and destroyed enemy planes. The newspaper “Izvestia,” in a dispatch from the front line, states: “St. Petersburg, Petrograd, and Leningrad have never permitted an enemy to enter the city.” Field-Marshal von Leeb is fighting a two-front battle against Leningrad’s defenders and against Marshal Voroshilov’s forces operating in the Valdai Hills. The Germans realise that the thrust to Leningrad is hazardous, but they believe themselves capable of dealing with any encircling operations from the region of Lake Ilmen. They have so far checked Marshal Voroshilov’s efforts in this area, but there is no indication that the Russian effort is yet spent. The German thrust at Luki seems to be a counter-move to threaten the Russians in the Valdai Hills from the rear, and this may frustrate Voroshilov’s move, to cut von Leeb’s communications.