Evening star., 1941-10-13
Reds Attack to Save Moscow:
3 Nozi Speorheods Close |n;
R. A. F. Strikes to Help Russia
Troops Less Than
100 Miles Awoy,
Germans Say


In the face of Germany's
claims that her Russian sweep
had carried within 100 miles of
Moscow on the west and south,
Russian dispatches from that
blood-bathed front declared to-
day that one German thrust had
been slowed down and that the
Red Army had launched counter
attacks at several points.
A third German column, driving
from the northwest, was said in
Berlin to have smashed through
in surprise attack 140 miles from
Moscow and to be pushing steadily
ahead. -,
Authoritative sources in London
asserted that the German offensive
now in its 18th dav-had lost mo-
mentum as compared with the speed
of the first two or three days and
added that it was quite possible that
the German drive might be stopped
10 or 30 miles short of the Russian
capital.
Front May Be Stabilized.
The limit of human endurance
and the wear and tear on the thou
sands of tanks and armored cars
may intervene to stabilize the Rus
sian-German front with Moscow
IS
winter blanket the plains, perhaps
smothering Adolf Hitler's hope of
pre- winter victory.
The Russian dispatches said the
German drive had been slowed par
ticularly in the direction of Vyazma
which the Germans have reported
passed and already in the process
of being mopped up. wanna is 125
miles west of the Russian capital.
One of the Russian counterattacks,
made possible by fresh reinforce
ments, was said to have recaptured
a town near Bryansk, 2l0 miles
southwest of Moscow, in the region
of the Germans drive on Moscow
from the south.
Another counterattack was launch
I'd north of Orel and east of Bryansk.
Orel was lost to the Germans
week ago.
Despite the Russian resistance, q
dispatch TO the Moscow newspaper
Pravda acknowledged that the Ger
mans still were moving on Moscow
and the only question was whether
the drive could be robbed of its mo-
mentum short of the goal.
The Russian government is on
the eve of transferring its seat
to Sverdlovsk, formerly called
Ekaterinburg, on the European
slopes of the Ural Mountains, &C
cording to uncomfortable reports
circulating in Vichy today, the
Chicago Daily News foreign serv-
ice reported)
Reinforcements Streaming In.
Reinforcements were streaming
steadily into the Russian front, 1t
was sald-fresh, well-equipped reg
ulars who already had been under
German fire but who had rested for
their new test. German reinforce
ments maintaining numerical su-
periority for the invaders, however,
also were reported.
The dispatches to Moscow pictured
the morale of the Russians as high.
All wore warm winter uniforms
with long gray greatcoats and fur
hats in preparedness for the winter
at hand. There was little question
that the greatest test of the war
was impending.
The announcement of Russian
counterattacks was issued several
hours after the Russians themselves
testified to the gravity of their situa-
tion with disclosure that they had
givenup Bryansk, key railroad juno
ton city.
The Red Army already has carried
out small scale counterattacks in
localized actions. but the fact that
the Soviets used the main portion
Of the regular communique to an
nounce the counterattacks indicated
the possibility they might be heavy
and on a large scale. Soviet dis
patches several days ago said re-
serves we're beginning to stream into
the battle zones.
$4,000 Declared Captured.
Hitler's headquarters announced
that the number of Russian prison.
ers taken on the Bryansk-Vyazma
front before Moscow had risen to
more than 350,00O The number of
Soviet prisoners grows steadily"
said a special headquarters an
nouncement.
The advancing Germans were
aided by the German air force. which
necessarily pounded the retreating
Red Army forces, dispatches from
the front said.
German reports said Russia no
lCeo yUdP Done AEl