The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-08-14
Germans, Russians
 Both Making Claims
Continued from Page D

 clude many other totally or par tially detroyed divisions"
 The official Communist party or gan Pravda, retorting angrily to triumphant German reports" on progress of the war: said:
 Behind the modest reports soi the Soviet information bureau that nothing of importance occurred ir the position of troops lie great con- sequences.
 No important changes occurred because the German offensive has been broken by mighty resistance of the Red Army"
 Triumphant German reports o1 the advance on Moscow in accord ance with plan liquidation o. (Marshal Semyon) Timoshenko! army, creation of divisions of wo- smen and children and similal stupidities are meeting with disbe. lief not only among German troops but also in the rear," Pran. da asserted.
 In almost eight weeks at least nine German tank, armored anc infantry divisions, each of about 15,000 men, and 12 armored anc infantry regiments were reported annihilated.
 Twenty NaN infantry, armoreo and tank divisions lost at least 5C per cent of their effectives.
 Red Star, Soviet Army publica- tion, said: This list does not in- clude many other totally or par. tially destroyed divisions on the northwestern, western and south. western fronts"
 Totally Destroyed
 Listed as totally destroyed were The 18th, 18th, 18th and 20tI tank divisions; the 5th, 10th, anc 137th infantry divisions; the 27tt armored division: the 53rd, 169tl and 111th armored regiments; thu 448th, 449th, 188th, 464th, 453rd 485th, 231st, 156th and 24th infan. try regiments, and the 39th tanl corps.
 German divisions reported tc | AA0FS 4OoV AA1OAO t4AdA1 OV RC1 CC11J V their effectives were:
 The 3rd, 11th, 18th "SS," Sand 28th, 5th, 299th, 297th, 121st ant 2O6th infantry divisions; the 14th 17th, 20th, 18th and 18th armoret divisions; and, the 7th, 11th, 18th 18th and 14th tank divisions. The Soviet high command re ported no new development sine an earlier communique admittinl the loss of Smolensk on the road t. Moscow, 235 miles dinstant, and in dicating that the Germans hac made a 40-mile gain south of Lak Ilmen.
 The important military factor a the present stage of fighting in tn Ukraine, however, was the abilit of the Red army in the south to re main intact-that is, to frustrat the German objective of destroyin this army as a fighting force-an then to set up strong defense 0 the great Donetz power and indus trial basin.
 The German advance forces tha reached the Black Sea betweel Odessa and the Bug river, accordin to the Berlin high command, prob ably were advance mechanized unit seeking to pave the way for mechan ized infantry. The Nazis, however had not reached the important Rus sian naval base of Nikolaev nea the mouth of the Bug river an | fhnrn %Afva{kA of their positions in relation to tn Dnieper.
 Great Naval Base
 Nikolaev is an important nava defense center for the Russians a it is the terminus of four railroa lines as well as a big ship buildin center.
 The consolidation of the gain made by German advance units ma require some time as a large are is involved, thus giving the Russian an opportunity to withdraw thei main forces beyond the Dnieper counter blows against the Nazis fai l There are bases eastward of tn Bug-Sevastopol, Novorrissisk an Batum-from which the Soviet nay al forces can operate and if tn Russian armies can be withdraw successfully to the east they woul be in a position to reyltalize the de tfense of the Donetz region which of utmost importance in maintain ing war production. The main in dustrial region is about 200 mile east of the Dnieper.
 On the central front, the Russian admitted the loss of Smolensk whicl the Germans had claimed sine July l6 and said they had bombe Bryansk, to the southwest. Ther seemed to be only slight Germal gains in this sector protectin Moscow.
 But on the northern front tn Germans again were exerting pres sure on two sides of Leningrac which is another chief Russian wa industries center. The main opera tlons were reported in the staray Russa sector, which lies south 0 Lake linen, the Germans havin swerved to the east after suiierin a set back west of the lake.
 Tho eastern thrust south of .EAk linen pointed in the direction c the fIaningrad-AGoscow railroad which ik 0f vital imuortancA il