KERCH SITUATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 114, 16 May 1942, Page 5

KERCH SITUATION

RUSSIAN LINES NOT

BROKEN

LONDON, May 14,

The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times" says that in the offensive on the Kerch Peninsula the Germans have penetrated below Akmanai, which is in the north-west corner of the peninsula, but it took their artillery four to five days to pound • the Russian positions \o bits.

The withdrawal of the Russian lines apparently about 10 miles eastward along the railway and the main coast highway does not mean that the. front line or anything similar has been broken, because nothing like lines exist on the densely-held and fortified peninsula. The Russians apparently have not withdrawn from the whole of the more hilly southern and south-eastern parts.

Berlin radio admits that the Russian defenders of Leningrad are heavily attacking the southern flank of the' German lines, particularly in the region of Kolpino, and adds that German reinforcements have been sent to this area. Moscow radio, however, says that Russian artillery has thwarted attempts to bring up reserves.

A Stockholm report says that both sides are fencing for advantageous positions along the neck of the Vyazma sack on the central front, where the Germans are holding the 'SmolenskVyazma'railway. The Germans are making an effort near Smolensk .to purge the countryside of partisans, and this has resulted in battles with the casualties running into thousands.