OPENED BY THE GERMANS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 October 1941, Page 5

OPENED BY THE GERMANS

Attempt to Envelop Moscow from North and South BUDENNY COUNTER-ATTACKING STRONGLY IN UKRAINE ENEMY OPERATIONS AGAINST LENINGRAD SLACKENED LONDON, October 6. A new blaze of battle has opened, over a wide area on the central part of the Eastern front. Berlin admits fierce Russian resistance to the immense pincer attack which is being developed with Moscow as its ultimate objective. Moscow states that everything the Germans have got is being thrown into the battle on land and in the air, but that the Russians were ready for them. A Nazi airman said that as soon as German planes flew over the Russian lines, Russian air squadrons made attacks the like of which had never been seen before. The Russian field guns were so cunningly concealed that it was hard to spot their positions. The German attack is concentrated mainly in the central sector, north and south of Smolensk, where Marshal Timoshenko’s armies have been counter-attacking. The objective of the enemy pincer movement, which is developing on a scale more gigantic than ever, is Moscow. The northern end is at the Valdai Hills, some 200 miles north-west of Moscow and the southern end is in the region of Roslavl, 230 miles southwest of Moscow. The plan presumably is to encircle Marshal Timoshenko’s army. The Germans, it appears, have won some local successes. Another German thrust is being pressed strongly against the industrial centre of Kharkov, in the Eastern Ukraine. Moscow says the enemy is being held up at Poltava, 80 miles to the south-west of Kharkov. Further south, in the Crimea area, the position of the German armies in the Isthmus of Perekop may, at any moment, become extremely critical. Marshal Budenny is threatening the left flank of the enemy forces and has forced them to fight on two fronts. The Russian position has improved and Marshal Budenny has regrouped and reinforced his army. Round Leningrad the German pressure has considerably slackened and Moscow states that the city is no longer under any immediate threat of capture. Road and rail communications with the city have been maintained.