“ONLY BEGINNING”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 October 1941, Page 5

“ONLY BEGINNING”

RUSSIANS ORDERED NOT TO RETREAT FULL STRENGTH OF ARMIES MOBILISED. SERIOUSNESS OF MOMENT ADMITTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, October 8. Besides battling against the strong offensive in the Ukraine the Russians are grimly and with great forces resisting Hitler’s bid along Napoleon’s road to Moscow. In this zone, Moscow communiques stated last night and again today, the Russians fought the enemy especially fiercely in the directions of Viazma and also Bryansk. Viazma is 140 miles from the capital on the Smolensk-Mos-cow railway and Bryansk is an important railway centre 220 miles southwest of Moscow. Bryansk was the point where General Guderian’s tank columns were hurled back in earlier efforts to strike at Moscow, and Viazma was the point where Field-Marshal von Bock’s troops attempted to push through from Smolensk in the early stages of the campaign. The push toward the capital is interpreted in Moscow as meaning that the Germans are attempting to escape the threat of a winter campaign. The ‘‘Red Star” says: “The enemy fears the prospect of a long war and is making a desperate effort to overcome our; stubborn resistance. The Fascist generals would like to decide the issue before the beginning of winter. Their hopes are vain. However, we do not shut our eyes to the seriousness of the moment.” According to a report from the capital, Moscow has ordered no retreat, even for a single step. The full strength of the Russian armies is believed to have been mobilised to meet the present great challenge. The Moscow spokesman, M. Lozovsky, said last night: “The offensive is only beginning. Hitler has several hundred thousand men he wants buried; he will achieve this. The Soviet intends to double all its forces to meet this new thrust.” It was reported yesterday that the Russian forces made a series of coun-ter-drives against the panzer wedges. In Moscow snow has been falling. German dive-bombers have been hammering at the Russian communications, and Russian aircraft have attacked railway junctions behind the German lines in the centre. Berlin admits considerably increased losses. It is known that the Germans concentrated very large forces in the southern Ukraine, and Berlin claims that a drive has reached a point due south of the Donetz Basin. The enemy are still being held on the Crimean Isthmus and the Odessa garrison has improved its positions in several sectors. The fighting in the Leningrad area is dwarfed by the titanic struggle on the central and southern fronts, but Russian dispatches refer to ceaseless counter-blows against the Germans on the approaches to the city. The German news agency says that women captured with weapons in their hands

were among Russians who were taken prisoner on the northern front. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the Russians at Leningrad are attacking to prevent the Germans from digging in in their present positions.