Finns Report Leningrad Ablaze

[Globalization41]

Helsinki, Finland, United Press, The New
York Times, Monday, September 15, 1941:
Finnish war correspondents reported from the
front tonight that Leningrad was afire after
German bombings. ... The correspondents
also reported that German bombers attacked
the Russian naval base of Kronstadt, after
which Finnish artillery shelled the base from the
Karelian Isthmus. They said huge fires were
burning on the Isthmus near the old frontier.

Berlin, By Telephone to The New York
Times, By C. Brooks Peters, Monday, Sept.
15, 1941: Large-scale attacking operations
are "progressing successfully" in both the
Leningrad area and the Ukraine, authorized
German sources declared tonight. ... In the
north, German forces are said to be less than
15 miles from Leningrad and to be engaged
in storming the immediate suburbs of that city.
However, official statements in Berlin indicate
that some days will elapse before the fall of the
former capital of the Czars may be expected.
... A suggestion that the German command
expects to bomb the Leningrad area until the
city is reduced to ruins was issued by the
official news agency, D.N.B. It asserted that
the Russians must be held responsible for the
casualties that would presently result from
allowing 4.5 million persons to be pressed into
a relatively small militarily defended area. ...
It remains difficult to estimate developments in
the other Eastern theatres. It appears to be
clear, however, that sizable German forces
which crossed the lower Dnieper River have
fought their way deep into the plain leading to
Crimea. The Russians, for example, are
reported to have erected new fortification lines
in Northern Crimea "to hold the German
advance and divert an occupation of the
peninsula." ... Rains in Southern Ukraine
appeared to have hampered the German
advance. Assisted by their air force, however,
the Reich's forces are reported here to have
made advances deep into Soviet territory east
of the Dnieper. ... It also appears probable
that other German forces that crossed the
Dnieper in its lower reaches are driving
northeastward to join the troops that, having
assertedly won the battle of Gomel, are in slow
but steady advance to the southeast. If these
two German groups succeed in meeting, sizable
Russian forces would be trapped in a huge
pocket that would include Kiev. ... Saturday
the German Air Force is reported to have sunk
a Russian transport of 5,000 tons east of Odessa
and to have damaged a merchantman of 3,000
tons. Two smaller Russian craft are said also to
have been destroyed by the German planes on
their return flight. ... The Russians are reported
to have lost 57 planes Saturday, 31 of them in
air battles. ... The advance in the Leningrad
area is difficult and costly, German spokesman
admit. The Russians, it is said here, had built
a line of modern fortifications before the war
began. Since June 22 numerous additional
lines of steel defenses have been erected, and
the Germans add, with a skill that apparently
only the Russians possess. ... From the Luga
River to Leningrad, for example, the Russians
are reported to have built successive defense
lines that the German forces have been able
to pass only with difficulty. Effectively
camouflaged tank traps nine-feet wide and six-
feet deep, others of pine logs so constructed as
to be difficult to remove, and transportable
tank obstacles of concrete and steel, pyramidal
in shape, have offered serious difficulties to the
German advance, it is said here. ... The most
effective weapon of the Russians in this sector
appears to be the land mines. The presence of
these mines means automatically that Blitzkrieg
tactics lose momentum. Sappers and other
units must clear the mine fields where they are
discovered before a further advance is possible.
... Usually the Russians lay these fields in
sectors in which they have artillery or machine-
gun control, so that they can disturb seriously
the attempts of German sappers or other units
to make the field harmless. An ordinary land
mine can put a tank out of commission. ...
Between the Luga and Leningrad the Russians
are reported to have built "dozens" of lines of
resistance in an area some 75 miles deep. The
field fortifications are so excellent, it is said
here, that even troops that have received only
mediocre training become effective when
operating in them. The Russians, German
quarters assert, with orders to hold or die get
many weeks' rations and pack them in those
different lines. ... Authorized military quarters
here said that the German forces have pounded
their way through these successive defense
lines, clearing the mine fields, and have forced
the Russians even more closely back on
Leningrad. That the Germans have suffered
losses in these operations is not denied. ...
One after another, however, the suburbs of
Leningrad are being taken, military spokesmen
assert. Though trapped, the Russians are
reported to have undertaken desperate counter-
attacks, designed to break through the German
positions. Buttressed by heavy tanks, these
attacks undoubtedly caused the Germans some
concern. All, however, are said to have been
repulsed successfully and the noose about the
city drawn tighter.

Teheran, Iran, Associated Press, The New
York Times, Monday, September 15, 1941: A
spokesman of the Soviet Embassy declared
today that the Iranian Government "will find
itself in very great difficulties" unless Axis
legations leave Teheran by tomorrow.
German, Italian, Rumanian, and Hungarian
diplomats had asked postponement of their own
departures until all their nationals had been
sent off to internment. ... Another contingent
of Germans left this morning, 220 for India in
British custody, and 21 for Siberia under
Russian guard. About 150 men still are
awaiting transportation.

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[Globalization41]

Amman, Trans-Jordan, Special Cable to The
New York Times, Monday, September 15,
1941: Complete identity of interest between
the British and Trans-Jordan Governments, as
the outcome of the weekend visit of Captain
Oliver Lyttleton, British Minister of State in the
Middle East, was affirmed in a communique
issued on behalf of Emir Abdullah's
administration today. ... The statement
declared that when Captain Lyttleton visited
Abdullah he also conferred with Tewfik Pasha
Abu El-Huda, Prime Minister, on the question of
Trans-Jordan, particularly the Arab question and
generally within the framework of the
declarations and promises made by leading
British statesmen. ... Unity of views was
revealed and the result of the talks was that
nothing would disturb the implementing of
promises and the fulfillment of Arab national
aspirations. These, it was said, would develop
as time passes. ... Arab statesmenship must
take the first step, the statement said, while
Britain would assist the Arabs practically with
all her means. The desired goal would be
reached as the Anglo-Arabian interests of this
war were jointly opposed against the forces of
oppression and tyranny, the statement
concluded.

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