NEW OFFENSIVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1941, Page 5

NEW OFFENSIVE

OPENED BV GERMANS AGAINST MOSCOW 300,000 ENEMY CASUALTIES IN THREE WEEKS. DESTRUCTION OF NAZI PLANES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, October 26. The “Pravda” says a new German offensive was launched on Friday against Moscow. The Reichsweir attacked on the whole front, after heavy artillery preparation, using tanks and motorised infantry. The paper estimates that in the first three weeks of the first offensive against Moscow, the Germans lost 300,000 men. Messages from Kuibyshev state that new reinforcements which the Germans brought up for their new offensive against Moscow include troops brought back from the northern front and Finnish and Rumanian troops. The Germans are said to have lost in the first day of the new offensive 70 tanks, 200 lorries and two infantry battalions. A Soviet communique states: “According to incomplete data, 35 German planes were destroyed on October 24. our losses being 16. It is now estimated that 32 German planes were brought, down on October 23 and not 10 as previously stated. It is also established that 20 German planes were brought down near Moscow on October 24 and 1 not 17 as earlier reported. During October 25, fourteen German planes were brought down near Moscow. ' LENINGRAD ABLAZE ACCORDING TO THE FINNS. LONDON, October 25. The Finnish radio stated: “Giant fires are raging and a thick pall of smoke is hanging over Leningrad. The city is burning. Bombs are falling and guns are roaring. It is incredible that I the city can hold out under these terrible conditions.”