Evening star., 1941-07-11
Soviet Army's Loss
Of Million Men
Claimed in Berlin
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BERLIN, July 11.-Germany'
drive eastward from the Bialy-
stok- MinSk area is stalled at sew
eral places, DNB., official Ger
man news agency, conceded to-
day, but an authorized military
commentator said the Red Army
has lost 100000 men killed and
captured and declared Russian
military collapse is inevitable.
In London, it was reliably re-
ported that mighty new Ger
man offensive. aimed at over
whelming results. is under way
in Russia. These reports said
the offensive. backed with the
full might of Adolf Hitler's mech
anized divisions would be pointed
at Moscow. Leningrad and Kew
The spokesman called attention
TO a crescendo in the language OF
the high command. Its communique
three days ago. he pointed out, said
operations were proceeding ION
schedule" the next day success
fully" and yesterday 'relentlessly.
In view of the careful language OF
the high commands bulletins, he
said, this left readers to draw their
own conclusions.
Roads Being Cleared.
The halt was attributed to the
necessity of clearing roads of the
wrecked Red Army machines.
"Unimaginable chaos prevails
among Red troops Withdrawing
from the Bialystok- -Minsk zone
D.N.B. said, adding that the Rus
sian losses were comparable only
with the slaughter in the greatest
battles of the World War. The
DN.B. estimate of the number
killed and captured is the same as
that given by Russian spokesman
on Monday for dead and wounded
Germans
German artillery, supported by the
air force, poured a devastating flre
on retreating columns which. D.N.B.
said, left so much material behind
that some of it had to be showed
aside to permit the advance OF Ger
man troops.
The agency called the halt a, brief
coil that ~, SoUpral nlQPpS
roads had to be cleared of "a mass
of abandoned, shot-to-pieces and
burned out tanks and vehicles"
Part of immense amounts of war
materials had to be showed ASIDE
to blaze a trail for the German
troops it said.
Immense Losses Reported.
This declaration followed the high
commands tally of immense Red
Army losses of men and equipment,
made public in a special bulletin
last night and repeated in todays
communicate which, for the fourth
successive day, made no new claims
to gains on the huge, fiercely con-
tested Baltic -to-Black Sea front.
DN.B., however, reported Luft-
Wafe attack yesterday on Russian
troops in the Smolensk area. east of
Minsk. and said 375 Soviet trucks
were destroyed.
1t also declared 191 Russian planes
were destroyed yesterday by the
German air force and the important
Zhitomir- -Kiev and Murmansk-Len-
ingrad railroads were disrupted by
air bombardment.
Dienst aus Deutschland. an
authoritative commentary, acknowl-
edged that Russian tanks were
mammoth-some weighing 100 tons,
1t said-but expressed the conviction
that they could not materially in
fuence the progress of operations.
Claims Tank Superiority.
Because of their slowness and
dependence on highways, Dienst
said, these rolling fortresses" are
unable ito execute surprise actions
of any kind" Dienst said Germany's S
middle sized tanks, capable of strik-
Ing across country, were superior.
Dienst argued that already a
weighty portion of the Russian Army
has been eliminated"
The Luftwaffe, operating far be-
hind the Stain Line, was reported
to have disrupted movement of
troops and supplies on the railways
between Moscow and Leningrad, be-
tween Zhitomir and Kiev, in the
Ukraine, and between Leningrad
and Murmansk, in the north.
In the far north German airmen
were credited with destroying sew
eral artillery positions on Rybachi
Peninsula, northwest of Murmansk.
Victories at sea, German sources
said, included the speedboat sinking
of a 3.5O0-ton Russian freighter in
the Baltic with a cargo of war ma
terials and a destructive surprise at
tack by Finnish airmen on Russian
Baltic bases.
A gigantic twin battle behind the
German lines in Poland has ended
with the capture of nearly a third
of million Russians, according to
the high command. and presumably
the mass of Nazi tanks and infan-
(See BERLIN. Page A-4D