HURLED BACK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 November 1941, Page 5

HURLED BACK

NAZIS IN VOLOKOLAMSK AREAS BITTER CONFLICT IN DONETZ BASIN, i REVIEW OF BATTLEFRONTS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, November 6. The Moscow radio early this morning claimed that the Germans are in full retreat in the Volokolamsk sector, abandoning position after position. It added that the retreat followed an attempt to break through with shock troops and motorised forces, which the Russians foiled. “Our infantry then counter-attacked, recapturing two villages in the first two hours” it stated. Bitter fighting continues in the Donetz Basin, where the Russians have taken up new positions near Gorlovka, 40 miles north-east of Stalin. There is no important change at Rostov. German and Rumanian forces in the Crimea yesterday had reached a point 20 miles north of Sebastopol, where savage fighting was proceeding in hilly Country, under appalling weather conditions.

The German troops in the eastern Crimea were halted by the defences of the Kerch Peninsula, behind Theodosia, which the Germans claimed to have captured but in which street fighting was still raging. Reviewing the fronts, the Stockholm, correspondent of “The Times” says: “The scale of fighting in the Leningrad area remains unchanged down to the' southern end of the Valdai Hills, with the Russians persistently trying to open a wide passage from Leningrad, but all the more southern sectors to the Black Sea and the Crimea are now most active. The battle for Kalinin keeps swaying without shifting its centre in either direction more than a few miles. The Russians at the moment appear to have the advantage, but German reserves are constantly arriving. The more direct attack against Moscow through Volokolamsk, Mojaisk and Malo Yaroslavets and toward Serpukhov remains checked, but there is no cessation of attacks and counter-at-tacks. The German advance on Murmansk is still reported to be bogged at the Liza River, where their communications are badly entagled.”