Evening star., 1941-10-09
Armies Are Shattered,
so to 70 Divisions
Trapped, Nozis Claim
(Tert OF Hitler's order of the day
on Page A-3.J
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
BERLIN, Oct. 9.-Soviet Rus
Sia'S power to resist has been de-
stroyed, her last fully able armies
have been shattered everywhere
and her leadership is in chaos,
the Germans reported today.
With new steel rings forged
around so to 10 Russion divisions in
the vast offensive with Moscow as its
prime goal which Adolf Hitler ord
cred to crush Russia before the VIM
ter and thus also remove the last
English ally on the continent"
spokesmen said Russias fate was
virtually decided.
One military spokesman, asked
whether there still was a unified
Soviet command, replied that she
has no commands of any kind"
Asked how strong were the so and
10 divisions said to have been trap
ped, he replied that their numbers
would be known only after i'm
prisonment or destruction" but that
some Red Army divisions consisted
only of some hundreds of men"
(The normal strength Of a Russian
Army division is. from 10000 to l5,-
900 mem
Moscow 125 Miles Away.
This was the vast offensive-with
its principal goal of Moscow said to
be only l25 miles away-which
Hitler ordered a week ago and of
which he spoke so optimistically but
secretively last Friday in his Sports
palast speech.
His order of the day, circulated
last Thursday to all the forces in
the field but published only today.
said:
To-day Thursday, october D be-
gins the last great, decisive battle
of this year 1t will hit this enemy
destructively and with it the in
stigator of the entire war, England
herself.
For If we crush this opponent
we also remove the last English ally
on the continent.
Thus we will free the German
Reich and entire Europe from a
menace greater than any since the
time OF the Huns and later of the
Mongol tribes
The Fuehrer claimed perhaps for
the frSt time" recognition of the
battle "by all European nations as
a common action to safeguard the
culture of this cultural continent"
Victory over Russia, he declared,
would provide the most essential
condition for peace"
Three Armies Face Destruction.
| The threat to Moscow material
izeo grimly on the central front.
Three Russian armies were said by
the high command to be facing
destruction" in the Bryansk area,
about 220 miles southwest of Mos
COW.
Another encirclement was said to
have been effected at Vyazme, 125
miles west of Moscow. The German
high command declared that the
situation of these units at wanna
and Bryansk amounted to sacrifice
of "the last fully able armies of
the entire Soviet front"
DR.. Otto Dietrich, Hitlers personal
press chief, put the number of Rus
sian divisions encircled at the center
at between go and 10, which normal
ly would be about 100000 men.
The Germans made no statement
on the situation at Orel, 21O miles
due south of Moscow, which the
Russians have abandoned. To-day
the Russians reported fighting north
Of Orel)
The high command told of tri-
umphs elsewhere on the vast battle
front-the shattering of a tank
pointed attempt to break the siege
of Leningrad and German smash
through to the Sea of Azov in the
region west of Dnieperopetrovsk,
cutting off the retreat of the 9Th
Russian Army, which had been de-
feated near Melitopol."
Speed Troops Advance.
The Azov thrust was credited to
a German tank corps with Italian,
Hungarian and Slovak reinforce
ments.
A unit of Schutzstaffel speed
troops moving along the Azov coast
broke through to Ossipenko. about
IS miles east of Melitopol, and there
Joined mechanized forces coming in
from the north. communique said,
hemming in six to seven Russian
| divisions.
The SIS. field unit continued to-
ward Mariupol, some 40 miles
northeast. of Ossipenko, in pursuit
OF Russian forces trying to reach
Rostov at the River Don's estuary
on the Sea of Azov.
DR.. Dietrich. arriving direct from
the Fuehrer's headquarters, de-