ARCTIC SECTOR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 September 1941, Page 5

ARCTIC SECTOR

FRESH SETBACK SUFFERED BY GERMANS ANOTHER RUSSIAN SUCCESS IN CENTRE. NO SIGNS OF YIELDING AT LENINGRAD. LONDON, September 24. Except for comparatively slight references to the fighting in a few vaguely-defined areas, official sources in both Russia and Germany are tantalisingly silent regarding the sway of fortunes on the vast battlegrounds where thunderous tumult drowns the cries of stricken thousands and the ghastly fury of modern warfare besmirches millions of acres which were so recently fruitful. Today's news does not reflect important territorial changes on any Russian front from the Arctic to the ’Black Sea, including the scenes of Germany’s recent successes in the Ukraine. | The Stockholm correspondent of' “The Times” points out that a few small territorial gains which can be reported since yesterday are all to the advantage of the Russians: for instance, in the northernmost sector along the smooth rocks leading to Murmansk, where the Austrians and Germans have suffered a fresh setback. Whether this setback will be sufficient to cause a collapse of the whole offensive against Murmansk it is not yet possible to judge, but certainly the conditions are becoming daily more difficult for the invaders, as after the equinox the days there rapidly shorten toward total darkness. The Soviet Army newspaper describes this second Arctic offensive as a complete failure, and says that the enemy have lost 2000 killed in the drive. The German forces participating in this offensive included three alpine regiments which had been transferred from Norway. i The “Red Star” also reports another German defeat on. the central front, where Marshal Timoshenko’s forces routed two enemy regiments on the east bank of the River- Dvina and killed at least 2500 Germans in a four-day battle. “The Times” Stockholm corresponds ent says that Leningrad, is showing no symptoms of cracking or yielding, but a permament deadlock seems impossible. The present intensity of fighting cannot continue indefinitely, and one side must crack. The Germans’ chances, he says, are slightly favoured in Stockholm, because while the loss of Leningrad •’ ’ ■ _

Would be merely another very serious reverse for Russia the Germans’ failure to capture the city would initiate a realisation that they were losing the whole war. The “Red Star” reports that in an all-day battle against the German 126th infantry division the Russians on the Leningrad front recaptured an important point, after which they established themselves in new fortified positions, and repulsed all counterattacks. The battlefield is strewn with enemy dead.