Evening star., 1941-10-08
War
Continued From First Page. }

was said to have DESTROYED more
than 300 German tanks with impro-
viSed grenades-explosive bottles of
gasoline.
Russian military dispatches also
reported that on the northern front
1000 German and Finnish troops
had been killed and many more
captured in an 18-day battle along a
river identified only as Il
Special Nazi Bulletin.
In a special bulletin, Hitler's field
headquarters announced:
While offensive and pursuit op-
erations in the Ukraine are in full
swing, a breach on the central
moscow front begun October has
led to a new and vast series of
battles of annihilation.
In the wanna area alone, several
Soviet armies are encircled and their
destruction. is proceeding irrevo-
cably"
1t was the first time the Nazi high
command had mentioned the vast
new onslaught toward Moscow,
heralded last Friday by Reichs-
fuehrer Hitler's announcement that
gigantic developments" were
gathering momentum on the eastern
front.
Naxi Shifting Forces.
Soviet front-line dispatches said
the Germans were shifting from
side to side" when blocked. stabbing
to discover any soft spots in the
Russian defense lines.
Thus in one sector" Red Star re-
ported, "a large German tank column
tried several times to break through
our defenses, but all attempts failed.
Then they retreated and drove in
a different direction, making a
wedge in our position. Fighters of
the Nth detachment engaged the
tank column. The Germans lost
more than 1000 killed. Our units
destroyed IS tanks"
Red Star said the Germans we're
suffering enormous losses" for every
step gained in the twin drives in the
Vyazama area, where the Russians
stemmed an earlier Nazi thrust in
midsummer, and from the Bryansk
zone
I33 Tanks Destroyed.
Soviet tanks and warplanes In A
. single sector were credited with de-
stroying 1873 tanks, so motorcycles,
10 armored cars and $50 truckloads
of infantry in a 48-hour period.
/ On the southern CUkraine) front,
Marshal Budyenny's armies coun-
terattacking from the Donets
River basin toward the Perekop
Isthmus, gateway to the Crimea
were reported in danger of en-
circlement by the German drive to
/ Mariupol.
/ British military quarters said that
| If the Germans were able to MAIN
tain themselves on a 130-mile line
between Mariupol and the Dnieper
River city of Zaporozhe, the Red
Army units could escape only by
forcing their way into the Crlmea'
Overcoming German forces
attacking there"
Big Nazi Forces Moved.
Dispatches from 1stanbul quoted
diplomatic sources in that Turkish
metropolis as saying the Germans
were moving large quantities OF
troops and tanks from Bulgaria and
Greece. apparently to bolster the
push along the Sea of Azov and re-
place combat losses.
/ Authorized Berlin sources said to-
day the German and Turkish gov
ernments had declared jointly there
was no basis for reports of German
troop concentrations in Bulgaria for
an attack on Turkey.
Red Star declared the German
generals hoped to decide the issue
before winter begins, but said their
hope is in vain" Russian observers
said the Germans appeared to have
drawn forces from both fianks for
the central push.
Successes Claimed.
/ Successes were claimed for de-
tenders of both Leningrad and
Odessa in their long operations
/ against Axis siege lines.
Around Leningrad the Russian.
declared their counterattacks were
growing in intensity and that 400(
German and Finnish troops hao