ANOTHER GARRISON SURROUNDED BY REDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 66, 19 March 1942, Page 7

ANOTHER GARRISON SURROUNDED BY REDS

VIOLENT FIGHTING Fifty-nine Assaults On Orel Defences

U.P.A. and British Wireless. Rec. 2.30 p.m. LONDON, March 18. Russians on the Orel and Kursk sector, south of Moscow, have retaken further populated points and killed 1000 Germans. The German garrison at Gjatsk, north-east of Viazma, is encircled and is short of provisions. The Russians are harassing German transport planes attempting to drop supplies. The German High Command reported that the Russians yesterday carried out 59 assaults against the German lines to the east of Orel, and that violent fighting is going on east of Kharkov. The Russian cruiser Krasni Kavkaz shelled German positions in the Crimea. The Berlin radio reports that large concentrations of Russian troops and equipment are moving towards the front. Russian warships in the Barent Sea sank two transports, a minesweeper and a patrol ship, totalling 16,000 tons. Struggle on Whole Front From a number of reports reaching London from both Russian and German sources, it would appear that fighting almost along the whole length of the vast front is becoming more violent. After listing an impressive amount of German war material destroyed by the Red Air Force during Monday, a Soviet communique savs that in one sector alone of the "central front in one day's fighting 600 Germans were killed and much booty captured. In another sector on the central front enemy counter-attacks supported by tanks were repelled Russian infantry. Russian units operating in a sector of the south-western front, continues the Soviet communique, broke through the enemy defence positions and forced the Germans to retreat. During the battle 1300 Germans were killed and 382 captured, eight enemy tanks were damaged. 3S guns, 80 machine-guns. 88 trench mortars and large quantities of other weapons and ammunition were captured. On the Kalinin front several places were also occupied by the Russians and 500 Germans were killed. Renewed activity in the Crimea, especially around Sebastopol, is reported both by Moscow and Berlin wireless. In the Sebastopol area. Moscow says. Russian artillery and the air force are becoming very active. In the Donetz Basin, again both capitals agiee. fighting is growing in intensity. Moscow says the Germans are repeatedly counter-attacking with the support of tanks, but that the Russians are "methodically destroying German manpower."

Bitter Weather Returns Both the German communique and German war correspondents again emphasise the return of a bitterlycold spell, not only on the northern and central fronts, but also in the Crimea. But they admit that despite unbearable cold and snowstorms the Russians are incessantly attacking. A message to Zurich from Berlin says that so severe is the cold that vehicles have been frozen in the mud, special units being sent to help remove them.