Sept. 22, If the city of Kiev has indeed fallen into German hands, the Russians will have experienced the most serious reverse since the invasion of their country started But the claims of the Germans in this respect have not yet been admitted by the Russians whose communiques are confined -to. the statement that severe fighting is proceeding in the suburbs of the city and that heavy slaughter is being inflicted upon the attackers. What the Germans appear to have done is, to have worked round the strong western. defences of the city, and to have attacked from the north and'south with numerically superior forces, According to a correspondent of the Russian journal, "Pravda," the Germans, supported by masses of armoured, cars and aircraft, broke through the outer fortifications rendering the situation critical. That is very far from the German claims to have captured the city, and the chances are that their allegations are merely anticipatory of what they hope will occur. If the Russians at Kiev are fighting anything their fellows in Leningrad it may still be some time before the German claim can be substantiated, 'The, same" correspondent states that the defenders were' not sparing their lives, and would not yield. the city cheaply, and, if this indeed proves to be the case, the Germans, if and when they completely occupy. the Place, should find it no more than the empty shell which has been the case of many other towns subjected to the traditional scorched garth policy. The Russians claim that during the forty-five days the Germans have been battling for Kiev they have lost ton divisions while a further fifteen have had to be brought up indicating that their casualties must have in the neighbourhood of 200,000, 'There will in' all probability be more, in which event the Germans will ha aid dearly for the success which they ay bbe on the eve of achieving. Tu considering this latest development it should be borne in mind that the Russian command has at all times contemplated the possibility of having to retreat if necessary og far back as the Urals, and of carrying' on the war from there and the real test of the success of their methods must be the damage inflicted upon the enemy, the worst comes to the worst with to Kiev it would not be the first time the city has been devastated. That happened once before in 1483, when the khan of the Crimea laid it low. The history of the place
separated from that of Russia. According to "such that "it" cannot satisfactorily be Nestor's Iegand, it wag founded in 864 by three brothers' Kiy, Shehek and Khoriv. After their deaths if was seized by the two Varangians Askold and Dir, followers Rurike," Rurik's successor Oleg conquered Kiev. in 862 and madi the chief town of his principality. It was in the waters of the Dnieper oppatite the. town "that" Prince Viadimix, "the first saint of the Russian church, Cause, his people to be, baptized and fclev. Became the seat of the first Christian church, the frst Christian school and of the first library in Russia, "For three hundred and seventy-six years it was an independent city, for eighty years it Was subject to the Mongols, for two hundred and forty-nine. Beionged to" the "Lithuanian principality and for eighty-five years to Poland, 'The, Magdeburg rights, providing for the saministralive: independence of cles, were enjoyed by 'Kiev from 1516 to 1838" when they' were abolished, and the ordinary form of town government introduced. Five years Tater vit twas made subject to the common civil Jaw of the Empire. The old monastery, the Kievo-Pecherskaya, was the chief ostab-Vishment of its kind in Russia, and, in the days of the Empire, was visited by no fower than a quarter of a mall lion pilgrims annually. There were four. distinct" quarters in. the monastery, the most interesting. of which were the Nearer and Purther Caves," The [rst series of caves, dedicated to St. Anthony, contains eighty tombs while" the second, Gedieated {0 St. Theodosius, a saint grealy venerated in old Russia, held about forty-five, Founded in the eleventh century by Anthon; and Hilarion, by the middle of the twelfth century it had become rich and beautiful, but the Mongols under Prince Batu ruined it in 1240. and it remained deserted for, two centuries, Restoration was begun by Prince Obikovieh, but a conflagration laid the bulld-ings waster in 1716, their Tater beauty being due {0 the activities of: Peter the Great.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.