KERCH CITY STILL IN RUSSIAN HANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 114, 16 May 1942, Page 7

KERCH CITY STILL IN RUSSIAN HANDS.

WILD NAZI CLAIMS

Fearsome New Shell Used By Germans?

United Press Association.—Copyright Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, May 15. German propaganda continues to emphasise new or secret weapons partictdarly on the Kerch Peninsula. hi»T . of thcs e allusions is most ulmcult to assess, and some neutral reports from usually reliable sources go so far as to declare there is no new weapon in use unless the mass us ,® flame throwers can be so called.

The Germans are also mentioning special tractors to haul vehicles over the peninsula's deep mud, but the most interesting story comes from a Swedish volunteer fighting with the Germans. He says one of the new weapons is a shell tilled with compressed air and another suhstance. These shells kill by bursting the troops' lungs owing to the terrific air pressure. The volUl ? t P er ' says ho saw m any Russians without visible injuries dead after this weapon was used. The weapon is stated to consist of large missiles, comparable with torpedoes, fired by specially-constructed guns. Their explosion is effective over a radius of 400 yards.

Huge Soviet Tank Trap

According to the British United Press correspondent at Moscow, Kerch city is still in Russian hands. Messages received here early this morning state that German claims that tremendous armies and air forces are involved on the Kerch Peninsula appear to be greatly exaggerated.

A reported Russian tank trap from the north coast to the south coast of Kerch Peninsula is from 6ft to Oft deep with concrete walls. A Moscow communique stated stubborn fighting continued last night on the Kerch Peninsula. The Russians, in the direction of Kharkov, continued their offensive operations. Nothing important occurred in the other sectors.

A message from Berlin broadcast by Vichy says the Germans and Rumanians, despite fierce opposition, have encircled all their main objectives on the Kerch Peninsula.

A Moscow communique admits further withdrawals by the Russians on the Kerch Peninsula, where the Germans claim that they are still pursuing the Red Army.

Limited Withdrawals The German offensive has penetrated below Akmanai, which is in the north-west corner of the peninsula, but it took their artillery four or five days to pound the Russian positions to bits, says the Stockholm correspondent of The Times. The receding of the Russian line, apparently about ten miles to the east, along the railway and main coast railway, does not mean that the front line, or anything similar, has been broken, because nothing like lines exist on the densely held and fortified Kerch Peninsula. The Russians apparently have not withdrawn from the whole of the more hilly parts in the south-east.