BOASTFUL NAZI

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1943, Page 4

BOASTFUL NAZI

VON ARNIM’S ADVENTURES IN RUSSIA SOVIET CAPTURE OF TIKHVIN RECALLED At the time of the capture of General von Arnim by the Allied forces in Tunisia, the following article by Boris Belogorsky on the Nazi commander’s earlier experiences in Russia was published in “Soviet War News”: — So our Allies have got Von Arnim! They may be interested in some supplementary biographical data on this Hitlerite general, who was' soundly beaten by the Red Army about 18 months ago near the Volkhov River. Driving to close a second ring around Leningrad and to join up with the Finnish white guards, the Nazis captured Tikhvin and a number of places in that district. Their 39th Army Corps, which operated in that direction, was under the command of General Schmidt. On November 20, 1941, Schmidt issued an order of the day informing his troops that “by the will of the Fuehrer” he was leaving his post. Two days later the new commander, LieutenantGeneral von Arnim, issued another order of the day: “I assumed command on November 22, and am proud to command soldiers each of whom has done so much.” He was free with loquacious compliments: “The offensive against Tikhvin, through the marshes and forests, was an amazing feat.” How strange, then, that they did not seem able to develop their drive any further. Von Arnim found an “explanation”: “Many necessary supplies have not arrived. They could not keep pace with our rapid advance, but they are expected to arrive in a few days. The command will do everything in its power to lighten your difficult task. You may be sure of that.” Von Arnim’s soldiers knew what he meant. In their summer coats and light footwear they were freezing in the forests of the Soviet North. The Red Army had cut the roads. The railway lines were constantly raided by guerillas. The Soviet artillery and air force kept up their harassing activity daj' and night. Von Arnim's Order concluded: “The enemy realises the decisive importance of Tikhvin in the fighting on the nor-

thorn sector, and is bending all his efforts to recapture the city. For a little time to come we must clench our teeth. Let the enemy meet German granite here in the Russian swamps, and he shall not pass.” What actually happened near Tikhvin is familiar history. Ten days after the publication of Von Arnim’s order, General Meretskov’s troops routed the 39th German Army Corps and recovered Tikhvin. The “German granite” crumbled to dust. Seven thousand of Von Arnim's men were left dead on the field. The Red Army captured scores of tanks, artillery pieces, mortars, hundreds of motor lorries, thousands of rifles and tommy-guns, tens of thousands of shells and grenades, and destroyed a huge quantity of enemy war material. The Soviet troops advanced victoriously from Tikhvin to the banks of the Volkhov, moving forward tirelessly through the wild blizzard, For days on end scouts on skis raced along forest paths and across frozen marshes. Artillerymen lugged their guns across roadless tracts. And so was beaten that same Von Arnim who is now accommodated in a British prison camp. In the torrid Tunisian sands riflemen of an Indian division ended the military biography of the Nazi general who met his first smashing defeat in the cold snows near Tikhvin.