Evening star., 1941-09-19
Kiev Is Captured, Nozis Claim;
Four Trapped Red Armies Being
AnnihiIoted to East, They Say
PoItuvo's Fall Also
Reported as BIitz
Tempo Steps Up
~ the Associated Press.

forces nave entered kleV ana
raised the swastika flag over the
citadel of the ong-besieged
Ukrainian capital. Soviet Rus
sia's third largest city, the Ger
man high command reported
tonight.
The bulletin was the third tri-
umphant message in quick success
sion from Adolf Hitler's headquar-
ters at the front telling the Ger
man people:
l. Two German Army groups have
merged beyond the Dnieper and
DeSna Rivers in great sweeps l25
miles east of Kiev,
2. The city of Poltava. 200 miles
beyond Kiev and only 80 miles from
Kharkov, has fallen to these mighty
forces.
g. So far in the war, on all fronts,
the Russians have lost at least $780,
900 men in dead and captured alone.
T. -Four Russian armies have been
trapped in the Eastern Ukraine and
now are in the process of being an
initiated.
(The Nazi dispatches indicated
that the German columns were
regaining the blitz tempo which
marked their lightning smashes
through Belgium, Holland and
France last year.
Resistance Tottering.
The whole picture implied that
Red Army resistance in the vital
southern region of grainfields. oil
wells. ore deposits and war indus
tries was tottering under the weight
of a fierce German onslaught with
hundreds of thousands of men
backed by the deadliest mechanical
weapons in the German arsenal.
The special announcement from
Hitlers headquarters told of the
German entry into Kiev. at whose
gates Axis forces were reported
pounding as early as July Is. in this
terse message:
I'm the course of incircling op-
erations announced tolay an attack
against the capital of the Ukraine.
Kiev. was begun.
After a bold penetration through
strong Notifications on the west
shore of the Dnieper our troops have
penetrated into the town.
The Reich flag has been flying
from the citaled since this morn
ing"
Thus for the second time in less
than "a years, the mother of Rus
sian cities" a metropolis of almost
100000 population with great in
dustries at the hub of four railroads,
has fallen to German Army The
Kaisers forces entered Kiev March
2. 1918.
Resistance Being Smashed.
The news agency DN.B. said the
Russians were fighting desperately
trying to hold back the German tide
in the south. but it declared resist
ance was being smashed everywhere,
with some individual Soviet units
fully DESTROYED.
OitdNd, d lain Odu ICllUCl anu IIlc
old capital OF Little Russia, appar-
emily fell as the two German Army
groups converging east of Kiev swept
on eastward toward Kharkov, chief
city of the Donets River basin.
Kharkov, which now is next in
line, is almost at the furthest side
of the Ukraine from the German
starting point in Poland and Ru-
mania.
Poltava is about IS miles northeast
of Kremenchug, already in German
hands, where the high command
said one German Army group had
crossed the Dnieper to meet the
other pushing southeast of the
Desna.
1t is about 100 miles north of
Dnieperopetrovksk, held by another
German force.
Poltava was the scene of Peter
the Greats defeat of Charles of
Sweden in 1909.
DNB. said retrea ting Russian COL
umns had been outflanked by fast
striking German tank units and had
suffered heavy, bloody losses" In
two days Of battle alone, the agency
said, $500 Red Army men were
taken prisoner.
Progress Claimed at Leningrad.
The bulletins from Hitler's head
quarters paralleled claims of prog
ress in the siege of Lenlngrad on
the north in which Soviet batteries
at Kronstadt, guardians of the
naval bases sea gate, were reported
silenced. Hitler's newspaper called
for Leningrad's capitulation.
Against the claim of more than
100000 prisoners so far with as
many, and probably more, Russian
soldiers killed the Germans ac-
knowledged losses in the first two
months of the vast struggle
through August 21-of only 81
354 dead, 292690 wounded and 49,
o2l missing in the army, and 1,542
killed, 1880 wounded and 1878
in the air force
This total casualty list of 402, 1865
is the first statement of losses the
German high command has made
since the invasion began almost |
three months ago.
Thus, by the high commands own
reckoning the Germans have lost in |
two months of war against Russia |
almost exactly twice as many killed |
and wounded as In all their previous
campaigns of the war combined |
In men missing, however, the figure |
Is only about two thirds the previous
total.
100000 Soviet Loss Indicated.
Before the invasion of Russia,
Germany had acknowledged these
aggregate losses: 1922 killed, 49,
78l wounded, 27,337 missing.
Based on the historic ratio of |
three men wounded for every one |
killed in battles of past wars, the
German claim of Russian casualties |
would mean total Red Army losses
Of at least 100000 men. an almost |
figure The Germans
gave no figure on Russian wounded.
The communique, telling of the
junction of German armies east |
ICae pEpT TN pooo A1oD