POLTAVA LOST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 October 1941, Page 5

POLTAVA LOST

IMPORTANT UKRAINIAN CENTRE ON APPROACH TO DONETZ BASIN. FIGHTING ON ENORMOUS SCALE. LONDON, October 1. A Soviet communique states that Poltava has been evacuated after stubborn fighting. Thus the enemy are within 88 miles of Kharkov, the great industrial and tank-pro-ducing centre. Poltava was once the scene of Europe’s greatest wool fair, and it since became an important railway junction and agricultural centre, but the Nazis are not likely to have found any equipment remaining there. Limited Russian gains on the central front were reported yesterday and today. The Moscow spokesman, M. Lozovsky today stated that the Russian position in- Leningrad was better than a month ago. Fighting was proceeding day and night near the Crimea, but outside the peninsula, he said. An enormous battle in the Ukraine, with huge losses, was continuing, and it was impossible to go into details of the general position while it was in progress. The battle was much more mobile, with greater possibilities for movement. He added that the 'Germans’ hopes that a major part of the war would be settled after the fall of Kiev had been dashed to the ground. The Russians before evacuating Kiev destroyed everything that could be used against them and also evacuated half of the civilian population.