HEARTENING SUCCES IN DONETZ BASIN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 281, 27 November 1941, Page 7

HEARTENING SUCCES IN DONETZ BASIN

NAZI TACTICS FAIL

Driven, Badly Mauled, To

River Don

t- - P.A. and Wireless,

Rec. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 26. c-K? e^ ers at Kuibvshev (Samara) says that if the Soviet advance in the Donetz Basin continues. the Germans may be pinched against the Don River. The Germans so far have failed to cross the river . p l !J?w lhe Ber hn claims to have established a bridgehead. Thus the repulse of von Kleist's corps north of Rostov means a serious weakening of the German forces, both in numbers and strategically. after failing to come round behind Rostov on the Novocherkask front, tried a new direction Dut it is obvious that with a larte section of his forces now driven back and badly mauled he will have to regroup the units. This heartening Soviet succe s comes at the right time from a military viewpoint and psychological]v. After desperate fighting in the Tula direction the Red Army was forced to retreat in the face of superior enemy forces, says the Moscow radio. The Germans occupied the town of "X." and are now trying to turn the Tula flank and cut ihe Tula-Serpuk-hov highway, with the intention of joining forces with the Germans to the westward of the highway. Tub is preparing for decisive battles in the defence of the city. The Germans are advancing northeastwards in the Klin district Thev captured several villages, but the Red Army counter-attacked and retook five of them. The Russians continue to develop their successes in this area.

All German attacks westward of Moscow have been beaten off. Strong German infantry and tank forces hurled forward in the Stalinogorsk i sector have broken through ard reached the outskirts of the town of « "V' 1 with about 130 tanks. Russian i troops are fighting to prevent the i enemy advancing further to the t north-east. t The Moscow newspaper Izvest;a 1 reports that the Germans have been i forced to retreat a further six miles t on the southern front. The Red Army continued its successful advance to i the south-west yesterday and dis- £ lodged the Germans from the new j lines in which they were trying t.entrench themselves. Fighting on the Moscow front con- j tinues to be very heavy, but, accord- . ing to M. Lozovsky, Soviet spokesman, the enemy successes are not comparable with the heavy price paid. The two German offensives ' against Moscow, he said, had already 1 cost them more casualties than the : battle of Verdun in 1916. when they lost 300.000, and the second offensive. begun on November 16, would be frustrated like the first, begun on October 2. evidently a supreme effort is , being made, as The Times says, to capture Moscow or Leningrad, or both, "before the sands of the season run out." The enemy has two urgent reasons for this—the problem of winter quarters and the need to raise the morale of civilian Germany and dazzle the puppet Governments. The Times adds: "It is no doubt also in Hitler's mind that the loss of! the cities would impair the resolu-tion.-or even break the spirit of th" Soviet defence. But in England, having learnt to trust the unshakeablel fortitude of our Allies, we may spare' ourselves any apprehension on that I score." M. Lozovsky further said that the] German claim to have captured 7'j i per cent of Soviet production was a t lie. "Production was greatlv increased during the three five year' plans, and new production centres 1 were established deep in the inferior.' he said. "Furthermore, no ; important industrial towns have! 'j fallen intact into German hand>. We | evacuated them, and are now re-1 j erecting the plants. Production is j beginning again." He added that the! 1 Russian offensive in the Rostov area!; would nol be the iasu :