Evening star., 1942-01-09
British Offensive to Relieve
Singapore Defenders Is Seen;
Reds Break Siege Of Leningrod
Four-Doy Bottle
DecIcred Roeine
Near Stain ConoI
BY the Associated Press.

BY the AssocLted Press.
Russia's armies were declared
today to nave virtually broken
the long-arawn sieges of Lenin-
grad and Sevastopol and Soviet
dispatche. reported that least
of Lening.ad the Germans have
now lost everything they have
been able to capture. in the past
three morths."
This would indicate that the in
vaders hac been thrown back from
the eastern arc of their siege ring,
with defer ders Of the old czarist
capital one moA In direct COM
municatiols with the rest of Russia.
At one st,ge Of the siege the Ger
man high command asserted that
Leningrad was completely iso-
lated" froI the south and that the
only outlet was the precarious pas
sage acros: Lake LadoD.
Advices leaehing London reported
that Red Army storm troops now
were batt,ring the Germans in
wave aAe, wate in a sanguinary
four-day-o,i battle at Poventsa, at
the mouth 81 the Stain Canal.
While maps failed to show Po-
ventsa. presumab blvAt was 4 village
in the vici,ity Of Schluesselburg. IS
miles east of Leningrad, where the
Neva Rive flows into the Stain
Canal.
The canI itself, a link in Rus
sia's Balic-to-Ar4ic waterways
system. ex ends 100 miles eastward
to Lake Laeoga.
In the erimea, Red Army troops
who stubbornly defended Russia's
great Blace Sea naval base at Sc
vastopol ftr. two months were re-
ported sailing forth and crushing
the Germans own siege positions.
Dispatches from Kuibyshev, the
alternate Soviet capital. said the
Sevastopol garrison broke out and
launched : violent offensive when
the Germa Is. withdrew some OF their
siege force, to combat the Russian
counterinIlsion from the Kerch
peninsula.
Marines Drove Back Nazis.
1zvestia, Soviet government news
paper, reprted that the Germans
had mass.d seven divisions-per-
haps 10000 troops-on the ap-
proaches % Sevastopol in mid
December and threatened to break
through t1e ports defensss De-
cember q.
Marines rom the Soviet Black Sea
fleet drove them back, however, and
the Germans were reported now
facing che prospect Of . complete
withdrawal from the Crimea or
being caught in a trap.
Sea-bOrre Russian troops were
said to be landing at many points,
east and nrth Of Sevastopol. while
the Sevast,pol garrison itself drove
the Germans back from the south.
1zvestia aid Russian forces from
the CaucGus first landed on the
Kerch P.ninsula December 26
through STOW, gales and high seas
and effected a second landing Janu-
ary ) at Fe ,dosiya. so miles down the
coast from ,kerch toward Sevastopol.
Other S)viet landings were re-
ported below Feodosiya and at Yev-
patoriya, 8 miles north OF Sevasto-
pol.
Amid these sweeping triumphs
the Moscow radio this afternoon de-
clared:
The emmy continues to retreat
in many sectors. losing a great num-
Der Of men tanks, trucks and guns.
The initiative has been torn out
OF the eneiny's hands. The German
machine is broken"
Contrast With Finn Claims.
The new, from Russia contrasted
with the ctntention of Finnish army
men that he Nazis had succeeded
in establishing a winter line from
which the, expected to launch 4
spring offensive at Russian armies.
The Russians. however. said they
were not SLOWING the Germans to
make a Stand anywhere and added
they had Ilenty of fresh manpower
coming up to carry on.
In Berlin the German high COM
mand said bitter defensive battles"
were being fought on the eastern
front in sectors west and northwest
of Moscow and In the Leningrad
area.
Russian Groop concentrations were
smashed b. concentric German ar
tillery fire it added. and numerous
Russian attacks were repulsed.
The German air force supported
the defense of the land army, the
Nazis asserted.
A Finnish military commentator
declared IL a broadcast last night
that Germany had practically
stabilized Ter own winter front and
was preparing for a spring drive
calculated % crush the Russians.
A Finnish communique declared
today thai the Russian Army was
keeping uot hard pressure against
Finnish hIes north Of Lake Omega,
despite heavy losses.
8,otD Declared Killed.
More th4n 5000 German officers
and men we're killed from January
l to s. a aussian communique de-
(see RUSSIAN, Page A-6J