THROUGH DEEP SNOW.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 87, 23 January 1942, Page 3

THROUGH DEEP SNOW.

PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY. RUSSIANS WEST OF MOZHAISK. «► LONDON, January 21. The Moscow radio states that in spite of deep snow and impassable roacis, the Russians are-irresistibly pursuing, and annihilating the Germans on the Moscow front. . ,; • The Moscow paper “Pravda tells how the Germans are fleeing in disorder from Mozhaisk and states that the Germans are meeting Raisfiian troops in their rear and down their arms and surrendering, . Berlin lias nothing to say about, the • fall of Mozhaisk, but speaks only of bitter fighting on the Moscow front r in the Donets sector, and round Lertiii; . grad. . . . ■ .The capture of Mozhaisk is regarded ~, authoritatively in London as important, as this strong bastion was the’ only remaining place from which the Germans could threaten Moscow. The immediate threat to the capital, therefore, appears to .have been removed, hut it is too soon to predict any extensive German withdrawal as a consequence of the loss'of the town. Journalists in Moscow have reported the jubilation in Moscow when the fall of Mozhaisk was announced, stating that not. even 32 degrees of frost could mar the spontaneous outburst of J The Stockholm' correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” states that if, as is likelv, the capture of Mozhaisk forces tlio Germans to retreat precipitately to Vyazma, the large German bulge in the centre of the Moscow front will be eliminated, freeing an important railway network. The Germans are facing a heavy task because, in addition to extricating thousands of men and machines through the Riissian snows from Rzhev, Mozhaisk, and Vyazma, they must also combat a Russian encircling movement from north and south. Rzhev itself is further threatened by the capture of Ostash- - kov, which is also another step towards freeing the Moscow-Leningrad railway.

A correspondent of the Tass Nows Agency says that the Germans suffered enormous losses of men and equipment. The streets of the town were littered with abandoned guns, ma-chine-guns, lorries, and other arms. The “Red Star” states that fighting is going on day and night in a number of sectors oil the Moscow front. The Russians are completing the liberation of villages from the Germans, who continue to burn villages, shoot prisoners of war, and forcibly take away the male civilian populations as they retreat. The Red Army has cleared the enemy from another 150 inhabited localities.