Evening star., 1941-07-10
German Motor Division Of Is 900
Smashed Near Baltic Reds Claim;
Syria Truce Waits; British Attack
Second Unit Hit
Heavily, Soviet
Army Reports
Ey the Associated Press.

By the Associated PfeSS.
MOSCOW, July 10.-The Red
Army, slashing in the direction
of Lepel on the flank of Ger
many's Baltic salient, reported
today it had wiped out a full
division OF Adolf Hitler's motor
ized troops-perhaps $4,000 men
and just south of Lepel
smashed heavily at a second di-
vision.
The blow at the second division,
though seemingly not as successful
as those against the first, was called
serious defeat for the Germans.
1t took place near Borisov on the
Berezina River and the road from
Minsk to Moscow.
The eastward drive of the Reichs-
wehr along the rest of the battle
front was reported stopped.
Hit at Center of Front.
The Russians apparently were
hitting hardest on the vital 50-mile
Berezina River central front from
Lepel to Borisov, guarding the road
to Moscow.
During battles in the Lepel di-
fection our troops destroyed a Ger
man motorized division. up TO 40
guns, and large quantity of trans
port and specialized machines" a
war bulletin reported.
In the Borisov direction our
an enemy division"
Fierce battles we're reported rag
Ing to the north and south of the
Berezina front, with the Russians
nowhere acknowledging Withdraw
els before the Nazi onslaught.
The attacks, the communique de-
clared. we're costing the ReichsWehr
heavily in men and material.
Russians Counterattack.
OF the Baltic flank where the
Germans are thrusting anew to-
ward Leningrad, the communique
said: In the Ostrov direction our
troops have beaten of all enemy
attacks with heavy losses for the
enemy"
A hundred miles south of Ostrov,
the Red Army was reported coun-
r-attacking resolutely in the Po-
lotSk sector.
Near Bobruisk, where earlier COM
muniques said the Germans were
attempting unsuccessfully to fight
their way across the fortified
Dnepr, the Red Army still is hold
Ing firm. the war bulletin reported
A similar unyielding defense was
reported to the south, in the Novo-
grad Volynski sector of the Western
Ukraine, and in Bessarabia.
Destruction of 100 German tanks
was credited to the Red air fleet in
operations yesterday afternoon.
Bombers were said to have continued
their attacks throughout last night
on German forces on the Baltic and
Ukraine flanks.
Three Points Struck.
An earlier Moscow communicate
said the principal German attacks
were made in efforts to break
through the Ostrov, Polotsk and
Novograd Volynski sectors where the
Reichswehr has been held up by
whitening fire and bayonets for a
week.
In addition, the Russians reported
for the second successive time that
successful counterattacks against
the enemy we're holding firm the
vital Red central front in the Lepel
area at the headwaters of the
Berezina River.
Tn the other sectors" the COM
munique said, "our troops are fight
Ing stubbornly and maintaining
their positions"
The Finnish high command
claimed last night that its troops,
with German support, had thrust
more than IS miles into Soviet
territory-the principal drive be-
ing aimed at Kandalaksha. $50
miles south of Murmansk on the
Murmansk-Leningrad rail line.
Finnish reports indicated swampy
land was slowing the pace of
Finnish-German attacks toward
Leningrad across the Karelian
1sthmus)
Blitz Declared Failure.
Reports of steady stiffening OF
Soviet resistance conceded with a
statement last night by Soviet Vice
Commissar for Foreign Affairs, S.
A. Lozovsky, that the bltz methods
the Nazis used in the Polish and
French campaigns were failing in
Russia despite the advantage the
surprise attack.
Lozovsky declared the Germans,
going all-out for quick decision,
hurled 10000 tanks against the
Russian front in the first onslaught
kept so secret, he said, that Ger
man troops themselves knew only
an hour in advance that trc blow
was to be launched.
The Soviet Information Bureau
said the Red Air Fleet bombed the
Nazi-used Rumanian Black Sea
port of Constanta again yesterday
as well as the ports of Tulcea and
Sulina, and raided the Rumanian
oil fields in the Ploesti area.
The Information Bureau sale
other Soviet bonbers destroyed two
-"enemy ships" in the Black Sea ane
damaged a third, identified as 6
monitor.