UNEASY NOTE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 October 1941, Page 5

UNEASY NOTE

IN GERMAN OFFICIAL COMMENT WARNING GIVEN AGAINST ' OPTIMISM. DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT & SUPPLY. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 11. In spite of a typically boastful statement issued this afternoon by the Wilhelmstrasse to the effect that the Russian power of resistance has been uterly crushed as a result of the last terrific German offensive, official comment by Berlin wireless this evening on the German High Command communique warned the Germans that the mass levy of Soviet forces had not yet come to and end. “Our troops will have to stand up to quite a number of hard battles,” the broadcast said. “We have had to attack on a straight line front an enemy who, unlike the French, had in time recognised the value of tanks and was in possession of a sufficiently strong air force. The position is made more difficult by the bad roads in Russia, where a single fall of rain is sufficient to transform highways into impassable mud. “The farther the German troops advance the more they are departing from their supply bases, while the Russians are getting nearer to theirs. So far as our rear communications are concerned, there are only bad roads and the railway lines of a guage different from that in Germany. Moreover, the front has extended to over 1000 miles.” SOVIET PAPER’S HINT CONDITIONS FAVOURABLE FOR ACTION ON OTHER FRONTS. DEMANDS MADE ON COURAGE & ENDURANCE. LONDON, October 12. The Moscow “Red Star,” saying that the British campaign in North Africa last winter drew off many German planes from the west of Europe, states: “With the German force tied up on the Eastern Front the conditions are extremely favourable for increased activity by our Allies on the other fronts. An important condition for success in multi-front warfare is that the action should be simultaneous and there should be mass employment of forces.” The “Pravda” says that the Russian armies are facing a new test —the most serious of all. By removing his troops from * the occupied countries Hitler had weakened his rear. He was trying by desperate and dangerous means to run a race against time. He was trying to encircle the Russian armies and capture Moscow. The newspaper again warned the people against complacency. “We must not lull ourselves with the hope that if the blitz fails we shall defeat Hitler with a quick blow. The war will be long and protracted, and it demands courage and endurance.” ' The newspaper adds that the enemy is staking everything on this present onrush, applying the full weight of his armed strength in the hope of finding a lack of stamina in the individual Russian soldier, and trying to sow panic among them. The paper gives a warning against any who fail their country at a critical stage. WORK OF MISSIONS LORD BEAVERBROOK’S REPORT TRIBUTE TO MR HARRIMAN. HIGH STANDARD OF RUSSIAN PLANES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, October 12. Lord Beaverbrook, leader of the British mission to Russia, has given a first-hand report of his talks in Moscow with Mr Harriman and M. Stalin. Russia, he 'said, was being supplied with much of what she asked for and certainly all that Britain at present could give. As to tanks and aircraft the numbers asked for Jhad been promised. The ; full numbers promised for October had been supplied. Lord Beaverbrook gave a long list of requirements which Britain and the United States had agreed to supply, which included a few big guns, plenty of good guns and ammunition, besides much raw material. Petroleum products were being provided by the United States' according to Russia’s requirements. In a tribute to the work of Mr Harriman, Lord Beaverbrook stated that their debt to him could never be repaid. Lord Beaverbrook spoke of the efforts the Russians were making for themselves and said they had developed two new types of aircraft, corresponding to Hurricanes and Spitfires. One had proved a match for the Messerschmitts and the other had met with outstanding success in attacking German troop concentrations and in breaking up enemy formations. HOPEFUL VIEW TAKEN BV MR VERNON BARTLETT RUSSIAN ARMIES STILL VAST. BATTLES IN DIFFICULT COUNTRY. (British Official Wireless.) , RUGBY, October 11. Mr Vernon Bartlett, M.P., broadcasting a news postscript tonight, said: “I must say how astonished I am on returning to England from Russia to meet so many people who seem ready to take Hitler’s boastings at their face value. I am not fool enough to suggest that things are not serious, but all along we have urged that the Russians must keep their armies intact, however far they have to retreat in order to do so. “The miles of sour, water-logged land they have so far had. to abandon on the Smolensk front are not going to decide the war. Between Viazma and Moscow there is about 130 miles of dense forest, crowded with soldiers. There are a good many tank traps and

so on, and the Russians are so good at concealing themselves that I can give no estimate at all as t o the amount of artillery, etc., that is still available to defend the capital. “There is one wide highroad and a series of narrow, unpaved tracks already very deep in mud. Otherwise there is this forest, with the trees so' close together that no tank could force its way between them. That should not be very difficult country to defend, and unless there has been an almost unbelievable collapse in the Soviet morale in the last week, I am confident that vast armies in Russia are still determined to defend it.” TERRIFIC EFFORTS GIVE NAZIS NO IMPORTANT GAINS IN MOST RECENT FIGHTING. MOUNTING LOSSES OF MEN & MATERIAL. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.45 a.m.) RUGBY, October 12. Though the terrific impetus of Hitler’s fourth and greatest offensive on the Eastern front still carries his troops forward in spite of' the .almost superhuman effort of Soviet resistance, which is inflicting such heavy losses on his forces, during the last twenty-four hours it has brought no substantial gains. This state of affairs was officially described in Moscow last night as follows:—“On October 11 our forces engaged the enemy along the entire front, fighting being particularly severe in the central sector, where fierce resistance inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. According to incomplete reports, 72 German tanks, 220 truck-loads of troops and ammunition, 41 guns and many machine-guns were demolished. The Germans lost not less than 9,000 officers and men, killed and injured. On one single aerodrome in this sector at least 65 Germans planes, of various types, were destroyed. “Severe fighting continued during the whole day in the south-west direction of the front. In heavy attacks the German forces attempted to break through our lines, but the assaults were stemmed, with heavy losses for. them. “Our Air Force destroyed 100 trucks, with German infantry, 150 lorries, with ammunition, fifteen guns and a column of mobile petrol tanks.” MORE ENEMY LOSSES REPORTED BY RUSSIANS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) RUGBY, October 12. A supplementary Russian communique states: “In one sector on the central front our troops, operating against big enemy units, inflicted heavy loss on the enemy. During a four-day battle, 4000 enemy troops were killed or wounded. Eighty enemy tanks were destroyed. “In one sector on the north-west front the enemy tried to break through our lines of defence and threw into the battle three regiments. In fierce fighting 2200 enemy officers and men were killed. Uncompleted figures show that our troops captured six guns, thirty machine-guns and five anti-tank guns, with a large quantity of rifles and ammunition.