POSITION SERIOUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1941, Page 6

POSITION SERIOUS

AT SEVERAL POINTS TENSE STRUGGLE IN ROSTOV AREA. LITTLE CHANGE INDICATED ON MOSCOW FRONT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, Noon.) RUGBY, October 28. A Russian morning communique repeats .'the namcjs of sectois which have been, already mentioned as scenes of heavy, fighting in the Taganrog, MakeitvkaDonetz basin, Mojaisk and Malo Yaroslavets directions. Direct news of the position is still very scanty in London. The German claim to have taken Kharkov is not confirmed from Russiam sources, but it is known that a thrust in this direction has been carried out for' some time past. There is also no indication of the truth of a German claim to be within 35 miles of Moscow, but it is possible that a small force may have penetrated as far from Mojaisk. Messages received by the Russian newspapers all emphasise the seriousness of the position and the ferocity of the fighting. Instances given of the stern Russian defence include the fact that on the Malo Yaroslavets front, the enemy was only able to occupy one village after a whole day’s fierce attacks, while in the Kalinin area fighting for a single barn lasted for a whole day. In the important Rostov area, enemy pressure is reported to be increasing. At one keypoint, the Germans threw in hundreds of tanks and were repulsed after losing 14 of them, six guns and a battalion of infantry. The battle here, however, is likely to become fiercer with the appearance of new German forces.