FORTY MILES FROM KHARKOV

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 32, 8 February 1943, Page 3

FORTY MILES FROM KHARKOV

GOLIKOV'S ARMIES More Key Railway Centres Recaptured N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 7. With General Golikov's armies 40 miles from Kharkov and other columns in occupation of towns and villages 45 miles south-east of Kursk, the Russians are also consolidating their gains west and south-west of Staryoshol. The Russians, in addition, are threatening Byelgorod, a notable German "hedgehog," from a distance of 40 miles. In view of the speed with which the Russians advanced to Barvenkovo, having covered 90 miles since Thursday, the Moscow correspondent of the British United Press suggests that if the advance to the Dnieper is continued at a similar rate the Russians will be in a position to carry out a greater encirclement of Germans than at" Stalingrad. In the meantime they have the important rail junction of Losovaya,. 80 miles south of Kharkov, as an earlier objective. .. . Another Moscow message says that General Vatoutin's manoeuvre to outflank the Germans in the Donetz Basin has been brought appreciably nearer to realisation by the enormous gains of the past two days. The capture of Barvenkovo means that the Russians have cut the third pffour railways linking Kharkov with the industrial Donetz Basin. A furthei advance of 30 miles will cut the mam line through Pavlograd to the Crimea. Kuban Area Retreat Closed The Russians have finally closed the last overland retreat for the Germans in the Kuban area by breaking through to Yeisk. More northward advances give the Russians control of the coastline between Yeisk and mouth of the Don. The Germans remaining in the Caucasus, whose numbers are not yet officially estimated, will thus be able to escape only by sea to the Crimea. . Morley Richards, writing in the Daily Express, estimates that 120 000 Germans remain to be evacuated across the Kerch Strait, but he says the Germans are unlikely to get more than another 20,000 to 30,000 men away by this route. Moscow reports emphasise that the Russians control half of the east coast of the Sea of Azov, and have recently liberated 1200 square miles of territory- They assert that the German force is surrounded in a narrow pocket facing the Gulf of Taganrog, while Marshal von List is making an effort to extricate his forces south of Yeisk, for which task he possesses only the port of Akhtari, which the Russians are already menacing. Axis Position Deteriorated The Times Stockholm correspondent says that since Friday the German position has greatly deteriorated everywhere below Orel, which, like Kursk and Kharkov, is on the immediate fringe of a long battle line which the Russians are continuously driving westward. Although seriously threatening Kursk and Kharkov and engaging large German forces, the Russians are envisioning far greater quarry, namely the whole of the Don Basin, embracing Rostov, which they have entered, and Voroshilovgrad, Novpcherkask and Shaktui, all of which are within range of Russian guns. The Germans boasted that the Russians would not find soft spots for further advance, but the Russians have pounded to softness the 60 miles sector between Kupyansk and Yama, capturing both of these centres, and are surging ahead across- the vital Kharkov-Taganrog railway, capturing the whole vicinity of Balakleya, Isyum and Liman. The Germans admit this great break through, necessitating the throwing in of considerable reserves in order to check the Russian armour and infantry which are pouring ihrough the wide gap. The Russians are already in the rear of part of the German forces occupying the Donetz Basin, and astride their most convenient retreat lines by railway.