Evening star., 1941-09-13
Nazis Repu|sed,
26 6Towns Taken,
Soviet Reports
Offensive Southwest
Of Moscow Is Rolled
Back, Reds Assert
BY the Associated Press.

MOSCOW, Sept. 13.-The Red
Army was reported today to have
rolled back a great German offensive
on Bryansk, 22O miles southwest of
Moscow, to have recaptured 26
towns and villages and inflicted a
loss of almost 10000 Germans in
a long, bloody battle
The German drive was reported
made by u infantry divisions about
10000 mem and two tank corps.
Dispatches said the 47th and oath
German Tank Corps were routed
and estimated that besides nearly
10000 officers and men, the Ger
mans lost more than 260 tanks, 600
vehicles and hundreds of field guns.
They said the Red Army had de-
feated the 18th and 18th German
Tank Divisions. crushed the 29th
Motorized Regiment and severely
beaten the 3lst and 34th Infantry
Divisions.
Drive Began 13 Days Ago.
The Germans broke through to-
ward BryanSk, midway on the Kiev-
Moscow Railway, late in August, ac-
cordlng to these reports, but we're
defeated by Russian counterof-
fenSive which began 13 days ago.
In the sector about $50 miles
northwest of Bryansk, persistent Red
Army counter-atta were said to
have recaptured Setolovo. a village
in the vicinity of Smolensk. Two
German regiments were reported
broken through in these counter
attacks.
Near Russian-recaptured Yelnya.
within so miles of Smolensk, these
reports said, the Germans failed in
another psychological" attack.
Two hundred shooting, Wild-rid-
ing Nazi motorcyclists, they said.
sped across a field toward Red Army
positions, but the Russian infantry
held their fire until the attackers
were within close range, then scat
tered them with rife and machine
gun fire.
Pincer Moves Carried Out.
Dispatches from the Bryansk
front indicated Russian infantry, ar
tillery, tanks and planes. working in
close harmony. were carrying out
pincer movements against armored
Nazi wedges and destroying them
piecemeal.
In the past week alone, these re-
ports said. the Russians captured 238
tanks. 135 guns, nine armored cars
and % mortarS. and the Germans
left $500 dead on the battlefield.
Tank units themselves were esti-
mated to have destroyed or captured
70 tanks and 80 guns and to have
killed $500 Germans in a single
battle.
In attacks on NaH-held airdromes
near the towns OF Orsha. Mogilev,
Roslavl and Bukhov behind the
broad Bryansk- -Smolensk zone, the
Red Air Force was said to have
downed so German planes in one
week and destroyed more than 200
tanks and 500 trucks.
Greater Threat to Kiev.
At the same time an increasing
threat to Kiev. capital of the
Ukraine. was disclosed in official
acknowledgment of the fall of
Chernigov.
Apparently attempting an en-
circling movement, NaZi detach-
ments struck down through the
forest lands from Gomel against
Chernigov, a Desna River port of
$4,000 population 80 miles northeast
of Kiev, in a drive correlated with
the German campaign along the
lower Dnieper to the southeast.
German forces thus have
more than half completed the
welding of a huge steel ring
about Kiev, a customary prelim-
mary toward siege operations)
The Kiev-Moscow railway, ma
jor artery for Soviet troops and
supplies, runs within as miles of
Chernigov at the city of Nezhin, to
the southeast.
In reporting the loss of Chernigov,
however, the Russians said Red
divisions covered Kiev's approaches
with unbroken artillery and infantry
defenses. Marshes would hinder any
further movement of the Germans
toward Kiev within the angle formed
(See MOSCOW, Page A-3O