Evening star., 1941-09-26
Morse Ordered
To Deliver All
Wool Blankets
Reds Report $4,000
Germans Wiped Out
On Baltic Isles
Earlier Story on Page AID

By the Associated Press
Adolf Hitler's invasion armies
are preparing for a full-scale
winter campaign against Russia,
it was indicated in Berlin late
today, and simultaneously all
citizens and stores in Nazi-occu- '
pied Norway were ordered to
surrender their wool blankets for
use by the German Army.
1T is generally recognized now
that one cannot figure on the pres
sure of German troops on the Soviet
Armies letting up during the winter
the official German news
agency said.
The Oslo decree ordered every one
possessing blankets to deliver them
up before September 80 regardless
of whether Or not he owns them.
Failure to do so or attempts to evade
the decree were made punishable
by prison sentence up to three
years or by heavy fine.
The covers are to be paid for on
the basis of appraisal by the German
Army, it was stated in the decree,
which excepted persons living in the
northernmost districts of Norway
and areas hit, by the war.
Meet Bitter Resistance.
In the field it was apparent that
the Germans were meeting bitter
Soviet resistance along the entire
l,200-mile front from Leningrad to
the Black Sea.
The British radio reported a Len
ingrad broadcast saying that 5000
Germans who landed on the forti-
fed Soviet islands of Oesel and Da-
goe, guarding the entrance to the
Gulf of Finland, had been wiped
out.
The islands, it was said. were
proving impenetrable to all Ger
man attacks" Berlin had previous
ly announced the capture OF Oesel.
Crimean Drive Repelled.
Whole battalions of German shock
troops have been blown to pieces
by minefelds in a strong attack on
the Crimea, advices reaching Lon
don said, and the Russians were re-
ported to have the situation we'll
in hand after stemming two Nazi
assaults.
German parachute troops used in
the attack likewise were declared to
have been annihilated.
Nazi parachute troops and in
fantry were reported continuing the
assault on the Crimean Peninsula,
battering flercely at Soviet lines
stretched across the bottleneck
Perekop Isthmus, only to s miles
wide.
The terrain was described as ad-
vantageous for the Russians, with
numerous small lakes and marsh
lands forming natural defense bar
rierS.
Fight Near Novgorod.
In the siege of Leningrad the
Russians admitted that German
siege armies were steadily increasing
their pressure despite colossal losses,
but declared that a series of battles
had hurled the Germans back from
several advanced lines.
Soviet front-line dispatches said
fighting near the ancient walled city
of Novgorod, 100 miles south of
Leningrad, was still raging, with
Russian troops repulsing all Ger
man attempts to cross the Volkhov
River.
The Russians abandoned Novgorod
month ago, and since then the
Germans have given the impression
that Nazl columns from that direc-
ton were pressing close to Lenin-
grad. Red Star, the Soviet Army
newspaper, reported that Russian
troops at one point on Leningrad's
approaches had gained miles and
recaptured four villages.
$4,000 Prisoners Claimed.
Hitler's high command reported
that the destruction of four Red
armies trapped east of Kiev was
progressing relentlessly," with the
number of Soviet prisoners now
standing at 574,000. Subsequently.
the official German news agency,
D.N.B., asserted that "annihilation
of the last remaining Soviet troops
east of Kiev is impending"
This claim followed an official
Soviet denial of an earlier Berlin
announcement that $4,000 Russian
troops had been captured in the
Kiev battle.
Berlin admitted that the Russians
were attacking with mounting fury
on the north central front, appar-
emily IN the vicinity of Velizh, 10
miles northwest Of Smolensk.
Nazi military dispatches said great
masses of Russian troops were
storming German trenches on the
east bank of the Dvina River, but
had been unable to break through.