The capture of Kiev does not appear to have given the Germans all the satisfaction they apparently wanted. From reports which have come to hand, it is concluded that that city has been reduced to a mass of wreckage and that, as winter quarters for the German invaders, it presents no advantages whatever. Possibly the news of the city's fall did not arouse all that enthusiasm for the war amongst the German masses that it was hı it would, and the German high command is seeking to improve matters by stepping up the figures of their claims regarding casualties inflicted upon the Russians and the numbers of prisoners taken. Their latest claim is that two and a quarter rfillion prisoners are in their hands. If that is true then by the application of any of the usually accepted ratios between ers ana casualties it will be seen that the Russian armies have long ceased to exist and that the German strip-tease artists, who swam the Dnieper and stormed the casemates of Kiev, were operating, against positions manned only by ghosts.
Of the four main objectives for the capture of which Germany commenced the invasion of Hussia,—Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev, Odessa,—only one after nearly one hundred days' fighting has fallen. Ip the centre of the long line stretched from the Gulf of Finland to the Black Sea these alleged anni ere 2,300, ith, for it has to be remembered least three times the men sive position are required to al consequently a very much higher rate. Reports have come out through neutral channels sw P belief that the German casualties have show that the German authorities are making every endeavour to hide from their the tragic wastage of humanity in which German high command is indulging. If, as it is possible, the Bulgarian armies are thrown against the Russians, as the Rumanians have been, it will be taken as an admission that the Germans are in need of reinforcements, though, of course, Hitler will argue that such a step would be merely a demonstration of German-Bulgarian sol ity.
German claims to have surrounded huge Russian armies likewise come under suspicion. That detachments, some of which may indeed be substantial are surrounded may be {aken for granted. Considering {he Russian method of count German attacks, which consists of isola! bodies of troops in depth in varying numbers oceupying positions between which the German attackers are allowed to pass while n a cross-fire, it is more than likely that some are cut off from the main body of the Russian forces.. But the fact that they were ablê to reduce Kiev to ruins before they left the city suggests that they retired eastwards in good order and that Marshal Budienny has been able to fight a rearguard action by no means unsuccessfully. It follows then that these German claims as to the damage inflicted upon the Russians need to be accepted with. rather more than a grain of salt. The German propaganda machine is notorious for its lying, and, if the high command has ever told the truth it was probably by accident.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.