The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-09-03
German Move Unceratln

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 whether the Germans would at- tempt to blast Q path into the city of 3,0O0,cO0 still was uncertain In view of their usual encirciing tac- tics and of the heavy pressure of Russian counter-blows on other fronts. But 1t was said in Berlin that progress had been made .n cleaning up pockets of Red army resistance in the surrounding areas, including 10000 men in one sector, and that larger numbers of Ger man troops were being released for operations against Leningrad as a result of successes in the Baltic states.
 Moscow gave no specific new de- tails of the Russian attacks on the central and southern fronts, al- though there were reports of big battles near Velikie Luki, 250 miles south of Leningrad, that indicated the operations were general along the entire line.
 It seemed certain on the basis of both German and Russian commit niques, however, that the Red army counter blows had at least succeed ed in stalling the general advance of the enemy and given the Ukraine army of Marshal Semyon Budenny an opportunity to consolidate new positions on the east bank of the Dnieper The fact that the Moscow communique emphasized aerial op- erations today may have meant that the progress on land-where torrential rains have slowed opera tions-was diminishing or halted.
 No Soviet Comment
 The Russians made no official comment on reports they had re- captured or were about to recap ture Gomel and Smolensk.
 The British air raid on Berlin, Frankfort and other German indus trial cities during the night was the 5oth of the war against the German capital and sent hundreds of thou sands of Germans into shelters for the night.
 German official statements ad- mitted that the attack was strong ish" and dispatches said that there was tremendous concentration" of anti-aircraft fire over the cap- ital as motors of the British planes were heard. According to London, it was not the biggest raid of the war on Berlin but it was one of the harde stand most effective. New and larger bombers and bigger bombs were used in the attack.
 Tn southeastern Europe, where the Turks have been increasingly afraid that they were about to be forced into the conflict, there was concern at Ankara over the de- parture for Germany of Franz von Papen, the Nazi ambassador and the trouble shooter" for Hitler in various important diplomatic moves.
 German troops are concentrated in considerable strength in Bull garia and Italian forces in Greece and the Greek islands off Turkey. Hitler has been reported seeking permission for movement of armed forces through Turkey and the Dardanelles
 Turkey is Fearful
 Turks feared that von Papen,s departure at this time, on the ex- cuse of illness, might be intended to increase the pressure on them to grant concessions such as right of passage for Axis ships through the Dardanelles. Tn fact, they dic grant such right to the Italian oil tanker Tarvisio today but at the same time refused to guide the ship through the Turkish mine fields - thus seeking to avoid a showdown with either the British, or the Axis.
 Tn the Far East, Japanese right ist political organisations were campaigning to force the govern ment of Premier Fumimaro Konoye to take the most firm position against any concessions to the Unit States or Britain and to set up Q safety zone" around Japanese waters that would halt American war shipments to Vladivostok.
 The arrival of Russian technical aviation mission ia Alaska by the Arctic route added to the hostil- ity and suspicion of Japanese mili- tary clements, who charged that they are being "encircled." The government, however, continued the silence that has hardly been brok- en since the start of negotiations with President Roosevelt.
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