The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-09
Soviets Say Germans Met With HeavyL Losses
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agency, which reported gains in un- specified areas of Bessarabia and said that the key town of Ostrov, on the north central front near the Latvian border had been occupied by Germans.
 Loss of Ostrov, where fighting has been in progress on big scale be- fore the main Stalin line defenses would be of importance in both the German drives on Moscow and on Leningrad, which lies 190 miles north. The Russian corni11unique said that the Red army had strengthened" its positions in that sector.
 The German agency also reported occupation of the port of Pernau or Pernov and the rail town o1 Fellin in Estonia.
 All these developments, on the surface at least, seemed to British experts to present a more encour- aging picture following the appeal by the former Soviet foreign conl- missar, Maxim Litvinov, for all of Hitler's foes to strike him simul- taneously and without delay.
 But the British wer cautious and warned against over estimating the favorable side of developments, par- ticularly the present Hull in the German advance on the eastern front. This lull, which might give the impression that the great Nazi war machine was stalled, was viewed by London experts as a pause" which is encouraging and probably means that the first Ger man strength has been spent by 17 days of intensive fighting. If that pause can be prolonged 1t will be of increasing advantage to the Rus sions and disadvantage to the Ger mans, but 1t should not yet be talk en to mean that the Hitler offen- siye has broken down or is in ir1- mediate danger.
 Russian Resistance Better
 The Russian resistance has been much better than most British ex- perts predicted and the German of- fensiye apparently has momentarily exhausted the strength of its men, according to London dispatches, but there has not yet been an arl- swer to the question of whether the Nazis can rapidly bring up re- serves and resume their advance or sweep around the Hanks in search of new holes in the Stain line.
 The German high command, for instance, said merely that opera tions lon the entire eastern front were proceeding satisfactorily, and Nazis in Berlin contended that the silence of officials on specific devel- opments was due only to a desire to keep information from the enemy. There were no new claims however, of having broken" Rus sian resistance or of "chaos" in the Red army.
 On the other hand, the Russians said they had wiped out two Ger man motorized infantry regiments probably about 5000 men trying to follow up advances by tanks - and four batteries on the Lepe. sector, north of Minsk, and that the Germans had lost heavily 1T fighting in the Sebezh sector (neal Latvia), near Novograd Volynsk and in the Borkovichi region of the central front. :,
 Furthermore, the Russians sait their air force (which the Luftwaf1t reported destroyed or broken) wa striking with increasing force at thI Germans, having shot down 10; enemy airplanes on Tuesday. Ina brought the toll reported for tht week up to almost 200 German planes, compared to a score admit ted lost by the Russians.
 Guerilla warfare behind the Ger man lines in Russia continued in tensely, both Berlin and Moscow reported. The Russians said tha the guerilla bands were large ant were inflicting heavy casualties ol the enemy in addition to hinderint his efforts to keep open conmuni' cation lines.