IN CONFLICT FROM ARCTIC TO CRIMEA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 October 1941, Page 5

IN CONFLICT FROM ARCTIC TO CRIMEA

German Attacks Repulsed in Murmansk Area TREMENDOUS FIGHTING IN PROGRESS IN UKRAINE AND ON THE PEREKOP ISTHMUS LONDON, October 1. There is little news from the Russian battlefront, but from the Arctic to the Crimea it is certain that neither side is giving the other any respite. In the Murmansk area, under appalling conditions ot weather and country, the Russians repulsed German attacks on the line of a river, 30 miles west of Murmansk. According - to the “Red Star, ’’ particularly fierce fighting has been raging for five days on one sector of the Leningrad front. The Russians forestalled a German attack by 40 minutes, counter-attacking with heavy and medium tanks and aircraft. Another report states that the Russians recaptured four villages. The only German claim is the usual story of having repulsed heavy Russian attacks. In the Ukraine, tremendous fighting goes on as the Germans drive northward against the Kharkov industrial area. Further south, a battle is raging half-way down the Perekop Isthmus towards the Crimea. The Russians are reported to be tenaciously holding on to the eastern bank of the Dnieper Bend. The defence of 'Odessa is being maintained as firmly as ever. The Germans published recently what they claimed to be the exact figures of casualties in the Russian campaign, stating that they were a most accurate computation. Today, in commenting on the estimate that German casualties were about 3,000,000 men, Dr Goebbels said they had no exact figures to go upon. The R.A.F. personnel fighting in Russia are given high praise in a special article in the “Red Star.’’