BEYOND TAGANROG

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 287, 4 December 1941, Page 7

BEYOND TAGANROG

Heavy German Pressure On Whole Central Front

(United Press Association.—Copyright.— Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, December 3. Russian detachments are now fighting in the suburbs of Taganrog, 30 miles west of Rostov, which, according to official sources at Kuibyshev, the Germans are abandoning in their retreat to Mariupol, 70 miles further west. The Moscow newspaper Pravda announces that the Soviet troops on the Rostov front continue their pursuit of the panicstricken enemy. So far the Germans have already lost 21,000 in the battle near Rostov. Pravda's correspondent on the central front says the 16th day of the Germans November offensive against Moscow has again created tension in sectors where there was a lull the day before. The Germans have become active along the whole central front and have thrown in infantry, tanks, artillery and also automatic rifle troops. They have brought up their second echelons, concentrating infantry and tank divisions along the main directions leading to the capital.

Violent, sanguinary battles are again developing on the roads and highways and in villages. In the Mojaisk and Maloyaroslavets areas the enemy has hurled in large tank columns, followed by infantry, but has met stubborn Russian opposition, lhe Lierman losses in tanks and men are very heavy. Thirtyfive tanks and a battalion of infantry were destroyed in one sector.

The Pravda correspondent on the central front states: "Our forces operated offensively in the Klin sector, 40 miles northwest of Moscow, and the Stalinogorsk sector, 25 mile* south-east o 1 ula " Cavalry under Major-General Beloff and tanks are pursuing the offensive, and the enemy is retreating southward. Russian cavalry forces have already occupied a dozen villages! destroying tanks, lorries and infantry." The Moscow radio says the Russians counter-attacking on a B T Ct °i r ii , Karelian front have advanced five miles and have also killed and injured about 300 Finnish officers and men