Evening star., 1941-09-28
By the Assccia ted Press.

bN tDe ASSCttSleQ HIeSS.
The German battle for Crimea
dominated reports of action on the
eastern front today with the British
reporting that the German attack Is
developing into the fullest scale as
sault and the Russians claiming that
the Nazis have failed to set a single
boot on Crimean soil.
The Germans failed to mention
the Crimean fighting. but authorized
sources IN Berlin declared yesterday
that Russia has been all but knocked
out and the turning point of the
whole war has arrived as the result
of German victory east of Kiev
which the high command announced
as triumph unparalleled in his
tory"
Authoritative military quarters in
London reported the extent of the
German assault down the narrow
Perekop isthmuS, but expressed the
belief that the peninsula cannot be
taken unless the Germans are able
to wipe out the Soviet Black Sea
fleet.
Pushing Nearer Grave"
The Germans are pushing ever
nearer their own grave" in fighting
on the Kiev front. a Soviet spokes-
man in Moscow declared today.
AL the fighting for Crimea is
taking place outside of the peninsula
itself" said S. A. Eozovsky, vice COM
missar of foreign affairs.
Scofflng at German claims of the
capture of a half million Russians
on the Kiev front, Lozovsky said
that instead of ending, the fight
there continues with undiminished
fury.
THE Germans are trying desper-
ately to achieve their main aim of
annihilating Soviet man power" he
added. Now I can say again that
the farther they push eastward, the
nearer they are to the grave"
Today's early morning communique
was reiteration of similar pro-
nouncements for days-herce fight
ing along the whole front.
Sure of Holding Leningrad.
At the other end of the long front
Russian and German forces are
locked in "incessant" day and night
battle fsr Leningrad, Lozovsky de-
clared, but he asserted that he was
absolutely confident that the Ger
mans never will take the city
They already have lost tens of
thousands of lives" he said. but
they will not capture Leningrad no
matter how many more tens of
thousands of German lives are lost.
"Incessant fighting day and night
is raging on the distant approaches
to Lenlngrad. The Nazis say they
are advancing, but even if they
crawled they would already have
been there. Leningrad is a hard
nut to crack"
Lozovsky also denied that the
Germans had won a foothold any,
where on Oesel Island, fortified Bal
tic outpost off the Estonian coast.
The British radio said last night
that SchlueSselburg, a key to Lenin-
grads defenSes which the Germans
claimed they captured II days ago.
still is IN Russian hands.
Defenses Declared Uprooted.
In what Germans called the most
destructive battle ever fought,
triumphant war bulletin from Adolf
Hitler's headquarters said Soviet
defenseS Of the Dnieper River had
been "uprooted" by the tremendous
Kiev encirciement operation now
brought to successful conclusion,
that five Russian armies were wiped
out, 665. 900 prisoners taken and that
vast array of munitions was seized
or destroyed.
With Adolf Hitler'S armies ham,
mering at the gates of Leningrad
pushing ever eastward through the
Ukraine and reported already at
the headWaters of the Volga River,
German sources in Berlin attached
Mrticular significance to the COM
munique's terse remark that lex
plo1tation of these successes is in
full swing"
Other dispatches, possibly limiting
at the direction in which the high
command was following up its
gains, reported the air force bomb
ing Bryansk. midway between Mos
cow and kiev, and other towns
along the double-track railway con-
Meeting those cities.
German flyers were said to be
scouting far into the Russian in-
terror against Russian railways and
other transport lines. They ap-
parently were contending against
considerable Russian air resistance
for it was asserted that SO Russian
planes were destroyed Friday.
The German air force sank
freighters of a total tonnage of
$4,000 during the past week in the
(See WAR, Page A-3)