RIVER DEFENCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 September 1941, Page 6

RIVER DEFENCES

HELD FIRMLY BY SOVIET TROOPS NEAR NOVGOROD. .NAZIS CLAIM HUGE HAUL OF PRISONERS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) ■ (Received This Day. 12.5 p.m.) LONDON, September 26. The Russians, for a month, have been holding the east bank of the Volkhov, where it flows out of Lake Ilmen, with their front lines less than a mile from Novgorod. German attempts to force the river have been decisively smashed. Two German battalions which gained a foothold on the east bank were hurled back, leaving 300 killed and wounded. Russian patriots frequently cross the river at night and bring back prison-! ers. They have also penetrated the i German lines and started fires, causing confusion. Heavy fighting has occurred south of Lake, Ilrnen during the past few days. The Germans gained nothing j and lost many men and much material.; The Vichy news agency states that Marshal Shapshnikov, Deputy-Com-missar for Defence, whom M. Stalin sent to Karelia in 1940 to end the war “regardless of cost,” is reported to have, joined Marshal Budenny on the southern front. A German communique claims the annihilation of the remaining enemy forces surrounded eastwards of Kiev and relentlessly pursued. Prisoners, the Germans allege. ,total 492,000 and the number is steadily growing. .