FIERCE BATTLES CONTINUE

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21582, 19 November 1941, Page 5

FIERCE BATTLES CONTINUE

IMPROVEMENT IN SOME SECTORS STRONG COUNTER-ATTACKS BY RUSSIANS THREAT TO THE CRIMEA AND CAUCASUS LONDON, Nov. 18 An improvement in the situation at Tula and Leningrad is reported from the Russian front. In the Tula sector the Russians have beaten off all attempts to force a passage and have strengthened their defences. In the Leningrad sector the Russians, by strong counter-attacks, have dislodged the Germans from positions which they had held for a month. The Germans are launching attacks from Orel, about 200 miles south of Moscow, in the direction of the railway that is carrying supplies to Moscow from the south. The Russians do not confirm that East Crimea has been evacuated. The Soviet news agency says the Russians are sowing minefields in the Kerch Straits, which separate the Crimea from the Caucasus, and are bringing up squadrons of Stormovik dive-bombers to prevent the Germans from sweeping a channel. The Russians believe that the Germans may make an attack with airborne troops to gain a footing in the Caucasus and are preparing to meet such an attempt. A Berlin spokesman boasted last night that the straits would offer no appreciable obstacle to the German forces.

HELP FOR RUSSIA BRITAIN AND AMERICA SETTING A FAST PACE (OfiU'ial Wireless) (Received Nov. 19, 12.20 p.m.) RUGBY, Nov. 18 There landed at a British airport after crossing the Atlantic by Clipper, Mr C. R. Attlee, Lord Privy Seal; Mr Averell Harriman, Mr Roosevelt’s “expediter” of American aid to Britain and Russia; Captain Balfour, Under-Secretary for Air; Congressman Buell, representing the United States War Department; and General Chaney, United States Army observer in Britain. They were met by Lord Beaverbrook and Mr J. Winant, American Ambassador. On arrival Mr Harriman said: "Things are moving faster in America in regard to supplying Russia, but the British Government has set a fast pace and we have a job to keep up with what Britain is doing. We shall be in good time, because I am convinced of the determination of the Russian people and Government to fight cn and they will never give up.” Mr Attlee was returning from the Internationa! Labour Conference and CapUiin Balfour from a mission to the United States in connection with supplies for Russia.

j CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN

LARGE GERMAN FORCES THREAT TO CAUCASUS | (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Nov. 17 ! While panzer units burst through the Russian fortifications in the Crimea, and across the narrow Kerch Isthmus, immense forces apparently have been employed behind the front lines—as they were in the Peloponnesus after the over-running ; of Greece—building and repairing : airfields and laying down supply ; dumps. From these bases German bombers have fiown out across Kerch Strait, which the Germans are aiming to i make a route for a bridgehead to the Caucasus, and they are already able :to threaten the supply route for i British and American supplies to : Russia. Propagandists in Berlin are already > capitalising the unpleasant fact that i if the Germans are able to advance i 240 miles from Kerch to Tikhorei.sk, [ on the Caucasus railway, and 140 t miles from Tikhvin to Vologda, the » two main British supply railways—from Iran to Rostov, through Baku, i and from Archangel to Moscow, l through Vologda—will be cut. i This propaganda takes much for granted. It underestimates the strength of Russian’s • Caucasian defences, and disregards the plan for joint Anglo-Russian actions to save the Caucasian oilfields from the Germans. Berlin claims that a large quantity of shipping is available to transport troops across Kerch Strait for the invasion of the Caucasus, but it is not clear where the vessels are being obtained. British Assistance Berlin sources are discussing the t suggestion that the British Com- ; mander-in-Chief in India. General 1 Sir Archibald Wavell, will move 2 troops to meet the Germans invading • the Caucasus. They state: “British 5 assitance will not arrive in time owing to the inadequacy of communir cations and because the German ; advance will be too rapid.” Berlin apparently envisages only a t race for the Caucasus between the 1 Germans and General Wavell and - does not reckon on resistance from 5 the Russians.

FROZEN TO DEATH

GERMANS POORLY EQUIPPED RUSSIAN MORALE HIGH (United Prrss Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Nov. 19, 11 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 18 It is authoritatively stated that quite a number of German soldiers have been found frozen to death on Russian battlefields. Very few are properly equipped for the winter. Many are rigged out in women's furs and other makeshifts. The Russians defending Moscow are well-equipped and their morale is high. A Berlin communique claims that the Luftwaffe devastatingly attacked fortifications and sank a large freighter at Sebastopol. Operations continued in the Donetz Basin. We occupied further sections of the industrial area and several goods trams under steam were captured by a surprise attack. The Luftwaffe last night attacked the Leningrad and Moscow aerodromes.

However, Marshal Timoshenko’s reorganised armies constitute an effective barrier in the Don region and threaten to flank the Germans thrusting toward the Caucasus.

The Germans have failed to penetrate Rostov’s defences in spite of desperate thrusts, while, according to German accounts, Russians evacuated from the Crimea are now strengthening the Caucasus armies.

GERMANS CRITICISED

RUSSIAN INGENUITY

RUSSIAN GENERALS VIEWS WILL NEVER WIN WAR (United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Nov. 18 ‘‘Germany’s soldiers are not as good as their fathers were,” declared Lieu-tenant-General Rokossovsky, known as the defender of Moscow, in an interview published in the Izvestia. He said: “I fought in the last war against their fathers, and am able to make a comparison. “Germany’s present army looks like a real army and it would deceive an inexperienced eye. It marches splendidly, salutes smartly, and contains many fine marksmen and brave men, and their commanders know tactics inside out. But it is a commercial, not a military army, and it will never gain a decisive victory because its plans are based on the exploiting of its adversary's weaknesses. This is the undoing of any army. Hitler’s men might win a lot of victories, but they will never win this war.”

USE OF “GHOST TANKS’* (United Press Assn.—e:pc. Tel. Copyright; LONDON, Nov. 18 Evidence of Russian ingenuity is contained in Berlin reports that the Red Army is employing “ghost tanks,” "J 4-ton monsters painted white, which approached across the snow to within 800 yards of the German lines before they were detected. The Russians also are reported to be using a rocket trench mortar, which pumps a stream of grenades into fortified posts.

NEW SUPPLY ROUTE

MUCH MATERIAL SENT i United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Nov. 18 I A great new supply route to Russia has been opened. It runs from . Baluchistan to Eastern Iran, and alj ready a consignment of jute has been j sent over the route from India. A ! regular service will be commenced : in the near future. ! Five thousand workers are enI gaged improving the route, and ar- : rangements have already been made i for the operation of the route, which will be guarded by the Iranian Government. Thousands of tons of materials are pouring into every port on the Persian Gulf from the United States, Australian, India and Britain. Com- | munications in Iran are constantly being improved, and it is expected that at the end of the month there will be four times as many trains running from Bandar Shahpur, on the Persian Gulf, to Bandar Shah, on the Caspian Sea. Locomotives and rolling stock have come from India, Australia, Britain and Hongkong. , The shipping route from the terminus of the trans-Iranian railway ! at Bandar Shah is open, and in spite the Caspian Sea in winter time small Soviet j ice-breakers are able to keep the < ports clear for the shipment of supplies to Astrakhan. A direct railway can be used from Astrakhan to Moscow, and, after the winter, the Volga Canal can be used for the ■ movement of large quantities of sup- | plies. At present the northern supply route appears relatively safe. A former employee of the Glenn Martin Aircraft Company has been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for sabotage of bombers under construction. The man is of German parentage. At one time he was a foreman in the company's factory.