Nazis Reveal Liberation of U.S. Violinist from Soviet Prison

[Globalization41]

Berlin, Associated Press, The New York
Times, Sunday, July 13, 1941: Gerhard
Starcke, German war reporter, said in a
dispatch today that "Heinrich Schablinsky" 51
years of age, whom he identified as a former
concert master of the Philadelphia Symphony
Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski and a
professor at Princeton, had been released from
Russian imprisonment through German air
raids. Starcke said Schablinsky told him he
was arrested by the Soviet secret police at
Lwow, Poland, and had since been imprisoned
at Bialystok and Minsk.

Philadelphia, Pa., Special to The New York
Times, Sunday, July 13, 1941: The Polish
musician who was reported in dispatches from
Berlin today as having been released from a
Soviet prison camp is apparently Henri
Czaplinski, 51 years of age, who was first
violinist of the Philadelphia Orchestra from
1925 to 1927. ... The German dispatch used
a Germanized version of the spelling of
Czaplinski's name, calling him "Heinrich
Schablinsky." A check of Princeton records
failed to reveal any member of the faculty
under either spelling of the name. ...
Alexander Hilsberg, present first violinist of
the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Marshall Betz,
orchestra librarian, said they remembered
Czaplinski as a member of the organization
about 15 years ago.

Geneva, Switzerland, By Telephone to The
New York Times, Sunday, July 13, 1941:
Despite merciless German pressure along the
45-mile line of the Vitebsk-Oraha road,
Russian forces were reported tonight to have
thrown back wave after wave of heavy German
attacks as the Wehrmacht vainly sought an
opening in the Stalin line through which to
push on the Smolensk Gateway to Moscow --
the narrow passage between the headwaters of
the Dvina and Dnieper Rivers. [This battle was
located about 280 miles west-southwest of
Moscow and about 50 miles west-northwest
of Smolensk, with Smolensk being 230 miles
west-southwest of Moscow.] ... West of Oraha a
somewhat indeterminate line running through
Tolochin to a point just south of Lepel [130 miles
west of Smolensk], also contained German
thrusts, it was stated. At the western end of the
line, according to reports received here, a fierce
Russian counter-attack in conjunction with troops
operating from the neighborhood of the junction
of the Dvina and its Lepel tributary was
developing favorably. ... Russian radio
commentators referring to this operation stated
that if it were successful more than eight divisions
of German mechanized and motorized forces
would be cut off from their bases and put "in
imminent danger of annihilation." ... A second
squeeze in this pocket was said to be under
way between Tolochin [30 miles southeast of
Lepel] and Beshenkovichi [35 miles northeast of
Lepel and 30 miles north of Tolchin]. This
Russian operation, backed by strong artillery
units and bombers of the Russian Air Force,
was believed to be making slightly better
progress than the one a bit farther to the west.
... Intense fighting along the Pskov-Polotsk-
Vitebsk sector [approximately 325 miles west
to northwest of Moscow with Polotsk being 170
miles south of Pskov and Vitebsk being 65
miles southeast of Polotsk] was reported to be
costing the attacking Germans very heavily in
men and equipment. The Germans, it was said,
have made no material gains in the last 48
hours. ... Repeated German efforts, strongly
supported by aerial attacks, to break through
the Russian defenses south of Vitebsk [75 miles
west-northwest of Smolensk] were declared to
have been hurled back. The Russian forces,
adopting a measure of the German Blitz tactics,
thrust at the advancing Germans with mechanized
infantry under cover of long-range artillery. ... At
no point on the Vitebsk-Bobruisk line [Bobruisk
being about 160 miles south-southwest of
Vitebsk and 170 miles southwest Smolensk] have
the Russian positions been seriously menaced,
let alone pierced, it was stated in a German-
language broadcast from Moscow this evening.
... In the northern sector the German drive against
Leningrad [400 miles northwest of Moscow and
330 miles north of Vitebsk] was making little
progress, it was stated, and was costing the
Germans heavily in casualties for every inch of
ground gained. During the last 36 hours, it was
stated, no important change occurred at any
point along this line, where Russian troops were
holding well. ... A mechanized counter-attack by
Russian forces early this morning appeared to
be developing into a major battle, but it was
interrupted just before noon after the Russians
assertedly had achieved their tactical objective
-- to force Germans to rush material northward
[toward the Leningrad front] and ease the
pressure on an area east of Ostrov [30 miles
south of Pskov and more than 200 miles south-
southwest of Leningrad]. ... It was reported that
in the northern sector [i.e., the Leningrad front],
as well as east of Vitebsk [about 60 miles
northwest of Smolensk in the center], the Russians
were working at top speed to organize further
field fortifications and widen the Stalin Line.
... Fighting in the Novograd Volynsk sector, to
the south [some 100 miles west of Kiev with Kiev
being 325 miles south-southwest of Smolensk
and 475 miles southwest of Moscow], continued
just east of the city in the neighborhood of a line
running north and south through Ushomir, the
Russians asserted. There lighter Russian forces
operating from fixed positions appeared to be
threatened from three directions: from the south
by German forces that succeeded in storming
the northern edge of the Avratynsk Plateau, from
the west from Novograd Volynsk, and from the
northwest by a mechanized force advancing
toward Luginy. ... The Russian Air Force, it was
stated, has been particularly effective in
stemming the advance of the last-mentioned
column, repeatedly bombing the German lines
of communication and inflicting heavy damage
and casualties on the German forces. ... In the
Bessarabian sector [600 miles southwest of
Moscow] the German-Rumanian thrust against
the Pruth line between Jassy and Falciu, after an
initial success made possible by the weight of
materiel thrown in by the attackers, was hurled
back at many points when Russian heavy artillery
from the main fortifications on the Dniester River
went into action, according to Russian accounts.
In one battle Russian tank forces supported by
planes wiped out a crack German tank regiment
and took more than 700 prisoners, it was
asserted. ... The Russian Air Force operating
at this southern end of the immense Eastern
Front, supported troop actions on the ground,
bombed German air bases and once again flew
over Ploesti Rumania, bombing oil refineries,
wells, and railroad installations. ... The port
installations [in eastern Rumania on the Black
Sea] of Sulina and Constanta also were
severely bombed, as was river shipping in the
mouth of the Danube [about 900 miles southwest
of Moscow]. ... At Sulina [near the mouth of the
Danube], it was stated, German preparations for
a sea-borne offensive against Odessa [almost
800 miles southwest of Moscow] were spotted
and many barges and large stocks of materiel in
the neighborhood of the docks were destroyed.

Moscow, Associated Press, The New York
Times, Monday, July 14, 1941: [Late Sunday,
U.S. time] The Red Army announced today a
series of gigantic all-day battles with the
German invaders in the Pakov, Vitebsk, and
Novograd Volynsk sector -- the approaches to
Leningrad, Moscow, and Kiev. ... The
communique did not specifically state the
outcome of the battles, leaving the impression
that they still were being waged.

Moscow, United Press, The New York Times,
Mon., July 14, 1941: [Late Sunday, U.S. time]
In describing Sunday's action a Red Army
communique stated that in the Baltic sector [some
400 miles west to northwest of Moscow and a
hundred miles or so southwest of Leningrad]
heavy fighting continued throughout the day.
Large German mechanized and motorized
forces were reported to have launched a big
offensive. "Stubborn resistance by our troops
held it up and the enemy suffered heavy
losses," the communique said.

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... Globalization41.]