CLOSING THE GAP.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 41, 27 November 1942, Page 3

CLOSING THE GAP.

FURTHER GAINS BY RUSSIANS. MANY MORE PRISONERS TAKEN. LONDON, Nov. 26. The Russians have achieved further .'successes in spite of stiff resistance from enemy rearguards. The Russians' are still gaining ground north and south of the Don bend. Another 15,000 prisoners have been taken, making the total to date 51,000 officers and men. , The roads leading west ftrom Stalingrad are clogged with thousands of routed Axis troops fleeing in disorder to escape from the threatening trap. From the Russian overnight communique it appears as if the pincers are closing, and some correspondents say the gap is now only 20 miles wide.

One column of Marshal Timoshenko’s army advancing from the Chernyshevskaya area has captured three towns on the railway west of Kalach, and another column has crossed the railway and captured a town 15 miles south of it. Another column is following the west bank of the Don. Two more towns east of Chernyshevskaya have been taken. In one sector the Russian trops captured 157 German tanks dug in as strongpoints. The .southern arm of the Russian advance yesterday met strong enemy forces of tanks and infantry. Evidently the Germans here are counter-at-tacking with some effect’, as the Moscow radio says the Russians threw the enemy forces back to their original positions. Near Stalingrad, to the south, the Russians have captured more towns. Soviet troops in the northern suburbs of Stalingrad dislogded the enemy from a height of great strategical importance. Elsewhere in the city the defenders have also gained ground. Dispatches just received suggest that the Germans are bringing up all available aircraft to the southern part of the front, including big Junkers troop-carrying planes, (five of which were shot down. Russian dive-bomb-ers are making hundreds of sorties against the German positions. In a raid on an enemy aerodrome eight ’German transport aircraft were set on ’fire. Another report says the three full divisions which surrendered southwest of Kletskaya are now known to be German. , For the sixth successive night Moscow has issued a special announcement telling of Russian successes. Three more railway stations have been occupied, and a German tank division has been smashed. In addition, a great quantity of equipment has been taken.