Evening star., 1941-08-31
Lines of Transport
Principal Target
Of Luftwoffe
Rr the A ASSnciated prnSs

BERLIN, Aug. 30-Devastating
attacks on Russian tranSporta-
ton lines before Leningrad and
on the lines behind the Russian
armies on the Ukraine and Mos
COW fronts were reported by the
German Air Force tonight in the
wake of similar smashing at
tacks on Russian forces attempt
ing to flee by land and sea from
the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
Railway lines and roads leading
into Leningrad were made unuse-
able" by heavy LuftWaffe attacks,
D.NB., official German news
agency, stated in a dispatch from
the northern front. Russian bar
racks, field positions and marching
columns on the highways were sub
jected to steady bombardment, the
agency said.
Similarly, DNB. said, the rail-
way center of Bryansk, 230 miles
southwest of Moscow and $50 miles
east of Gomel. had its facilities seri-
ously damaged in Luftwaffe attacks
The entire Red rail network in the
region south of Bryansk, down to
Konotop in the Northern Ukraine
and eastward 100 miles to Lgov, was
attacked.
At various points east of the
Dnieper transport and munitions
trains were derailed or blown up
by heavy bombs, D.N.B. said.
Evacuation Thwarted.
Russian efforts to remove every
man and machine from Tallinn be-
hind a ring of tanks. warships and
shore guns collapsed in bloody frus-
tration when the Luftwaffe wrought
havoc in the rescue fleet and the
remainder steamed into a mammoth
Nazi mine field, the Germans re-
ported.
Sixty Russian ships definitely were
destroyed. and the toll may reach
past 100, the German high command
reported in supplying some details
OF capture of the former Estonian
capital and the nearby naval base
of Paldiski.
The combination land, sea and
air struggle was cne of the most
spectacular and bitterly fought vic
tories yet claimed in the 10-week old
war against Russia.
Describing the action as. similar
in many respects to the British
evacuation of Dunkerque Is months
ago, Germans said that as the Wehr-
macht drove up close to Tallinn it
met concentrated rings of Red Army
tanks and heavy bombardment from
the Russian Navy offshore and II
heavy shore guns.
Army Charged Tanks.
The Luftwaffe was turned loose
on the Russian naval forces while
the army charged the tanks and
stormed the heights west of Tallinn.
The town itself was taken on Thurs
day, the German report said, in per-
sonal combatS which ranged from
! house to house and from room to
room. Then on Friday the Ger
mans tackled the harbor district.
The vast collection of merchant
ships which the Russians had as
sembled for the getaway already was
harrled and severely damaged by
the air force. but as it headed out
into the Gulf of Finland, another
disaster befell it mine barriers
planted by the German Navy, the
German commentators related.
Deadly explosions in series quickly
sent 81 troop transports to the bot
tom and badly damaged eight
others, the high command reported.
Two deStroyers, nine minesWeepers
and three patrol boats were de-
stroyed and two other destroyers
and minesweeper damaged by the
mines, it continued.
80 Heavily Damaged.
The air force was credited with
destroying % merchantmen, mostly
transports, and damaging an addi-
tlonal 80 so much that loss of many
of them was termed apparent"
A Red Navy cruiser and two more
destroyers also were claimed by the
air force, with three more destroyers
and an auxiliary cruiser damaged
heavily.
Today, with Tallinn Harbor a
graveyard of sunken ships whose
masts stand like headstones above
them, the mopping-up of Estonia is
proceeding, the Germans stated.
Islands offshore have been. taken,
and the Hitler war machine ex-
pected soon to get around to the
Russian base at Eango, Finland, and
the islands of Oesel and Dagoe.
The fall of Tallinn virtually throt-
ties the sea approach to Leningrad,
said German spokesman, and with
the help of the Firms the encircle-
ment of that second largest Russian
city will be 'just question of time,
and not a very long time"
Firms Success Acclaimed.
German off1cialdom heartily
cheered the Firms for their an
nounced capture of Viipuri on the
Karelian Isthmus. Hitler tele-
graphed Baron Mannerheim that he
was full of admiration for the
bravery of the Finnish SOLDIER and
conferred on the Finnish field mar
shall the Knights Cross of the
Iron Cross.
To Finnish President Risto Ryti,
Hitler telegraphed:
THE capture of Viipuri is a sig
niflcant milestone on the way to
complete liberation of Finland
That is one state for which Ger
many is preparing a leading place
in her new order, officials said.
German news dispatches said
that east of Salla, inside the Arctic
Circle, Firms and Germans had de-