Evening star., 1941-08-29
TaIIinn Taken,
81 Soviet Ships
Sunk, Nazis Say
Another 'Dunkerque'
Declared Inflicted
On Trapped Reds
MAP on Page Az

B. the Associated Press.
BERLIN, Aug. 29.-German
forces have stormed and taken
Tallinn, fighting naval battle
which apparently is still contin-
uing, and have delivered crush
ing blow to the Red naval forces
In the Baltic, the German high
command announced today.
Besides raising Adolf HitlerS BAN
ner over the Estonian capital, naval
base on the Gulf of Finland less
than an hour by bomber from Len
ingrad, official announcements said
eir and naval attacks had sunk 80
Russian ships-22 transports and
10 war vessels-and heavily damaged
Z others.
The Russians, who had defended
Tallinn fiercely, were said by the
Germans to have been literally
pushed into the sea.
New "Dunkerque" Hailed.
Frantic efforts were made to evac-
uate trapped Red Army forces by
water, they said, and this account
ed for the great concentration of
transports.
German spokesmen called the end
of Russian resistance in pocketed
Tallinn another Dunkerque" but
there was no indication how many
Russians managed to escape.
Finnish flyers reported today
that they had seen many dozens
of Russian warships and trans
ports leaving Tallinn and head
ing eastward last nightD
The thriving Hanseatic port
had been a pocket of Russian re-
sistance in German-conquered ter
ritory, choked off and besieged by
Reichswehr forces which had passed
It in the eastward push through
Estonia into Russia proper. Its cap
ture winds up the German conquest
of Russia's recently won Baltic buf-
fer states.
Gains Farther East Claimed.
At the same time. the German
informants claimed important gains
farther east overnight on the line
of advance toward Leningrad.
Between Narva, at the Estonian-
Soviet border, and Luga, inside Rus
sia about IS miles to the southeast,
they said. German troops took all
designated objectives, captured
5000 Russian prisoners and seized
or destroyed % tanks, Is cannon and
large quantities of machine guns,
grenade-throwers and other war
material.
Violent naval battles were be-
iieved still to be raging in the Fin
nish gulf, however, with Finnish and
German fleets and air forces attack
ing dozens of troopships and war
ships which had fled from the burn
ing capital. The din of the conflict
was heard from Helsinki, so miles
away.
Paldiski Harbor Also Taken.
Besides Tallinn itself. the Ger
mans took Paldiski, the Estonian
capitals modern harbor 20 miles to
the west. and thousands of prisoners,
the communique said.
Besides, the 8,9OO-ton Soviet
cruiser Kirov, destroyer and five
other warships were reported dam
aged heavily, but the communique
did not say whether any of these
subsequently were sunk or captured.
The Kirov, one of Russia's latest
warships, was completed in 1886 and
had a complement of 624 men. The
cruiser carried nine 7.1-inch guns,
six 21-inch torpedo tubes, mine
sowing equipment and lesser wea-
pons. 1t also had one airplane.
In the conquest, the high COM
mand added, several thousand pris-
oners, six coastal batteries and much
war material also fell to the Ger
mans.
Occupation of Paldiski put the
Germans close to the strateglcally-
important. Russian-held islands of
Dagoe and Oesel at the mouth of
the Gulf of Finland, which provide
excellent naval and air bases for
HIIdCkS Oll 1eIlHdlly. ilIe IIuo-
slams have raided Berlin from these
islands)
Strategically, the Germans said
they now were in a much better
position to aid the Firms who are
pressing down from the north to-
ward Leningrad while German COL
umns move in from the east and
south. These latter columns are
said TO be 80 miles from Leningrad
at ope point.
Leningrad's sea approaches now
ere threatened. Kronstadt, the port
of Leningrad, is the only remaining
base on the Russian mainland for
the Red fleet in the gulf.