Evening star., 1941-09-08
Red Counterattacks
Limited 10 Strictly
Local Operations
Sharp Concerted Jobs
At Concentration Points
Held Highly important
BY A. T. STEELE,

BY A. T. STEELE,
Foreign Correspondent of The Star and
Chicago Daily News
MOSCOW, Sept. 8.-Localized Rus
sian counterstrokes, growing in fire.
quency, are giving new strength to
Soviet resistance to the Nazi ma
chine. According to the Russians,
such attacks were largely responsible
for the German inability TO score
any striking successes during the
past week.
There has been nothing yet in the
way of general counteroffensive.
The Russian assaults are of an en-
tirely local nature, but highly i'm
portant in that they are aimed at
points where the Germans are con-
centrating men and materials pre-
partory to new attacks. Thus the
effect is often a breakup of these
Nazi attacks in their incipiency.
The Russian attacks consist of
sharp concerted jabs over narrow
fronts and seldom involving more
than half dozen divisions. Rus
sian correspondents, writing from
Leningrad, tell today of number
of such counterstrokes in recent
days in which the Germans were
elected from several villages where
they had been preparing advance
bases for attack Thus, claim the
correspondents, the German efforts
to mass men and guns for a break
through operation have been frus-
trated.
Soviet Fire Power Tremendous.
Russian firing power in Lenin-
grad is tremendous 1t is proving
most difficult for the Germans to
concentrate enough material at any
one point to pierce the grimly de-
Tended network of defenses at the
citys approaches. Hitler is racing
against time and seasons. Heavy
downpours during the past week
portend long, wet autumn
The most urgent German task
Is to encircle Leningrad and it is
apparently on this job that the
Luftwaffe is now concentrating its
main effort. In an attempt to
soften the dogged Russian resist
ance, German planes are pouring
explosives into advance Soviet po-
sitions, but not without a heavy
toll of planes and pilots, accord
ing to Soviet claims.
The fighting is of the most SAN
culinary nature raging southeast
ward from Leningrad where the
hoc
been trying to hammer northward.
However, the Russians maintain
emphatically that the Nazis are
still far short of success and that
the past weeks gains have been of
undecisive nature.
The central and southern fronts
have shown little change during
the week. The German drive from
Gomel southwestward to Moscow,
which opened with the shrill blow
ing of Nazi trumpets several weeks
ago, seems to have made no mate
rial progress. Local Soviet counter
attacks in that district, it is claimed,
have blocked the German attempt
to turn the flank of the Central
Russian Army from the south.
Minor Soviet Counterthrust.
The only significant item from
the Ukraine tells of a minor Soviet
counterthrust from the Dnieper
line, which the Russians continue
to maintain, and of tenacious re-
sistance in Odessa in face of the
enemy siege. When the Germans
passed by Odessa some weeks ago
they left the Rumanian Army with
German officers and tacticians to
complete the job of capture. But
apparently the Nazis are growing
impatient at the failure of the Ru-
manians to make an appreciable
dent in Odessa's defenses, for it is
now reported that German troops
again are assisting in the Odessa
assault.
A Soviet correspondent, freshly
arrived here from Odessa, tells how
the Rumanians repeatedly have
thrown large forces against Odessas
defenses only to be mown down
like wheat "Rumanian corpses litter
the battlefield" he said.
Social note-The Russian Ballet
opened its season at the Moscow
Opera House yesterday.
(Copyrieht, 1Q41, by Chicago Daily News }