Over the Wire

LONDON -- Approximately 35,000 Germans fell in the battle of Taganrog and 500 German planes were destroyed on the ground in one week, a Russian war communique broadcast from Moscow claimed today, coincident with the first signs that the German drive on Moscow was breaking down.

The communique admitted that Russian troops had evacuated Taganrog, on the Sea of Azov, 40 miles from the oil port of Rostov, which the Germans claimed two days ago to have captured but it claimed that 35,000 Germans were killed or wounded in a battle lasting several days.

In addition to stalling the drive on Moscow, the Russians claimed to have stopped the German sweep along the Sea of Azov toward the oil port of Rostov completely, and there were reports of rain, snow, and howling winds on the Russian plains which indicated that the Moscow front would not much longer be conductive to mechanized warfare. But meantime the Germans were hurling their machines, into the battle furiously.