DEFENCE OF VIAZMA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 October 1941, Page 6

DEFENCE OF VIAZMA

RUSSIANS FIGHTING HARD & SUCCESSFULLY SOME ENEMY ADMISSIONS. LIGHT ON “PRISONERS” CLAIM. (Received This Day, 1.20 p.m.) LONDON, October 13. “The Times” Stockholm correspondent says the general position on the central front appears distinctly to have improved since Friday, and instead of talking about the envelopment of Marshal Timoshenko’s main armies, the Germans’ chief emphasis is now on alleged large pockets In,the Bryansk and Viazma districts and also the large number of prisoners taken. Whether the Bryansk pocket really exists cannot be said, but the Viazma pocket appears to be a fact. The Russians’ statement that their forces at Viazma are not undergoing the “rapid annihilation” which the Germans boasted last week, but are fighting hard and successfully, appears to be confirmed from Berlin, where military circles are now warning against expecting a lightning liquidation. They explained that Viazma town is a stronghold which the Russians inside may defend for some time, although Viazma is no longer a factor in Moscow’s defence. The same circles, when dwelling on the large number of prisoners, apparently inadvertently digressed by explaining that the prisoners included numerous motley labour units, thus bearing out the assumption previously expressed regarding German captures, that even if the number given is correct, the prisoners include many rounded-up elements not belonging to the Russian Army. GERMAN CLAIMS (Received This Day, 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, October 13. A German communique states: “Operations on the Eastern front are proceeding according to plan. The destruction of forces encircled at Viazma is approaching a conclusion. We re.polled enemy attempts to break out from Leningrad.” It is announced from Hitler’s headquarters that prisoners in the double battle of Bryansk and Viazma now number 350,000 and that the total is still increasing. A German communique dealing with

air activity says: “Our bombers on the night of October 12 attacked targets in Moscow, Manchester and Hull. A large number of British bombers flew over North-Western, Western and Southern Germany and dropped highexplosive and incendiary bombs at a number of places, killing and injuring civilians and destroying and damaging buildings.