The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-07
Germany Hits Hard On
 Whole Southern Front
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official news agency put great em- phasis on developments on the southern front and, except for gen. eralized references to advances, al- most ignored the vital central and Baltic fronts.
 CThe Russian communiques said the Red army had seized the offen- sive on the Baltic front and was smashing furiously at the enemy on the central front, where the Ger mans had failed to advance.)
 The capture of Cernauti was re- ported by the high command which said that the German advance had pushed on to the upper reaches of the Dniester and Sereth rivers (near the pre.war borders of Po- land, Rumaria and the Ukraine).
 A general advance in BeSsarabia also was claimed by the high com mand after repulse of Russian counter
 All reference to the reported German "break through" was omit ted by the high command, and the official agency carried only a sketchy account Of operations.
 Details Kept Silent
 Details of the reported break through were not given, except to say that the attack followed 8 Red army retreat.
 (In the Ukraine, as farther north, the so-called Stalin line is supposed to be a series of Qualifications in depth but its extent and location are military secrets. The DnieSter river runs along the old Ukraine frontier and the main defenses sup rosedly are east of 1t, probably along the Bug river)
 The Russian conn1unique pre- viously had reported that severe fighting was in progress against a German column advancing from Luck on Novograd Volynsk, which may have been the point of attack on the Stalin line.
 Russian troops retreating from volhyhnia sought to take up new defense positions in modern pill boxes and forts of the Stalin line the agency said.
 German troops. after smashing through the Soviet rear guard, as- saulted the main line itself, the dispatch added.
 The official agency also said that in the period from July 3 to July {, the Russians lost an additional 345 tanks, 291 guns and several armored trains as well as 8 large quantity of ohter war material ei- ther captured or destroyed.
 Eazis Capture Fort
 German infantrymen have storm ed and occupied Bunker fort, equipped with cannon of the most most modern type, in the Russian Stalin line of defenSes, the official news agenSy said today.
 Beside the dead commander of the fort, the agency said, the Ger man soldiers found a written dis patch asserting that reinforcements were necessary and reporting that the Germans had already taken a nearby Bunker fort.
 The agency said that liar ad- vanced" German armored forces had captured Large number" of Russian soldiers who belonged to Soviet "elite troops" The place at which the capture was made was not specified, but the agency cited as proof of the high quality of the troops, that they had taken par in parades in Moscow.
 Dispaches indicated that the Ger mans continued their concentration on drvies toward Leningrad, Mos COW, and Kiev.
 For several days the high com- mand had given little clue to the actual position of the fighting forc- es.
 However, 1t had mentioned es- pecially heavy bombings of Smol- ensk, on the Moscow road, and zhitomir, 85 miles west of Kiev, and this was taken to indicate the cruost of the German drives into White Russia and the Ukraine.
 Yesterday the high command said that the total of Russian ph- soners had increases to about 300,- 900 after 62,Oo0 Russians deserted west of Minsk Saturday.
 It said that German planes had destroyed more than 800 Russian motor trucks and 1e railroad trains Saturday.
 Catholics Protest
 Berlin, July 7-(Ur)-A message drafted by the presdium of the Ro- man Catholic Episcopate and read from the pulplts of moat of tho Catholic Churches sn Germany Sunday. complained strongly over alleged Nazi party interference with