STRUGGLING IN SEAS OF MUD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 October 1941, Page 6

STRUGGLING IN SEAS OF MUD

Bogging of Transport Delaying Advance SOVIET FORCES FIGHTING STRONG REARGUARD ACTIONS DESTROYING ALL INDUSTRIAL PLANT AS THEY RETREAT (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day,-noon.) LONDON, October 24. German panzers are being hurled against Moscow front three directions, and the capital is threatened with encirclement, says the “Tidningen’s” Berlin correspondent. Swarms of planes are supporting the panzers, bombing roads and railways eastwards of Moscow to prevent the Russians retreating. The “Dagens Nyheter’s” Berlin correspondent claims that the whole of Moscow is now within the range of the German artillery, but adds that the weather has crippled the Germans’ fam- ■ ous motor cycle and bicycle battalions, and that the men are dragging their machines through a foot of mud. The Germans say a frost will be necessary for any decisive operations. Berlin officials said the weather conditions on the Russian front are appalling—driving rain and snowstorms in the central and southern fronts. The armies are struggling in seas of mud. These factors, together with the bogging of transport, are delaying the German advance. The Russians are blowing up all industrial plants as they retreat, fighting strong rearguard actions.