Evening star., 1941-08-15
German Offensive
Apparently Aimed
At Leningrod
Rs tie Associated Press.


MOSCOW, Aug. 15.-A fourth
major Nazi offensive, apparently
aimed at Leningrad simultane-
ously with the southern smash
toward Odessa, was reported to-
day in Soviet war dispatches.
CReports from Helsinki, Fin
land, said the drive on Lenln-
grad was reported launched IN
earnest from the north today
with powerful Soviet defenses on
the Karelian Isthmus smashed,
the towns of Kirvu and Ellsen-
vaara captured and the Red
Army in retreat.
(Both Kirvu and Elisenvaara
are near the top of the Karehan
- Isthmus-Kirvu slightly north OF
and about midway between Vii
puri on the Gulf of Finland and
Kakisalml on Lake Ladoga. Eli
senvaara on main road junction
skirting the Lake Ladoga shore
North of Kakisalmi)
After q three-day lull in which
there was only sporadic action, the
Soviet communique reported battles
had broken out anew on the eastern
front and that fierce fighting had
ragged through the night chiefly In
the KakiSalmi. Staraya RusSa and
Smolensk regions and on the ES-
tonian sector.
Withdrawal Acknowledged.
There was no further mention
of the Ukraine. where the COM
muniuue last night acknowledged
the Red Armys withdrawal from
Kirovograd (Bevo) and Pervomalsk
Kirovograd is 100 miles north
east of Nikolaev and Pervomalsk,
on the Bug River, lis miles north
west of Nikolaev.
The new offensive was pictured
as a sequel to three major thrustS
in which the Nazis had reached
their present positions on a line
running north from the Ukraine
east of Smolensk to the northern
lakes and the Baltic Sea, with the
Russians holding out in Northern
EstOnia.
Areas mentioned in the communi-
que are parts of the battlefront de-
veloped in the Germans three-Way
squeeze on LenIngrad, jointly with
the Firms from the north and by
themselves from the west and
south. The communique gave no
indications of how the battles were
developing.
German tactics now. however, ap-
pear to be to attempt TO advance
gradually, carving out bits OF ter
ritory in small pincer movements
with the front line kept straight in
stead of the previous blltzkrieg plan
based on long salients and wide,
sweeping thrusts.
Nazis Declared Checked Now.
The Russian Withdrawals of the
last two days we're said to have been
the consequence of a previous Nazi
offensive which is declared checked
now with the Red Army intact and
the Germans suffering great losses
The month-long Russian defense
of Smolensk, conceded low TO have
been vacated. was cited by the army
organ, Red Star. 1t said the Ger
mans frequently were forced to take
the defensive because of Russian
counterattacks and this alone
shows their calculations of light
ming war suffered defeat and the
offensive sweep of German troops is
eXhausting itself"
Red Star said captured German
documents showed there had beer
a change in plans.
Earlier reports said that Russian
troops battled against a German
drive that appeared to threaten moi
only Odessa and Nikolaev on thu
Black Sea but the vital manufac-
turing area of Dnepropetrovsk.
In the brief communique, which
admitted the abandonment of Per-
vomaisk and Kirovograd, it was de-
MED that the armies of Marsha
: 6emeon M. Budyenny had been en-
eircled.