ROSTOV BATTLE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 33, 9 February 1943, Page 3

ROSTOV BATTLE

VIOLENT FIGHTING Russians May Be Delivering An Ultimatum N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 8. Violent fighting continues in the Rostov area, but no reliable information is available as to whether the Germans are evacuating the city. The Associated Press Moscow correspondent reports that the Russians have drawn up their forces before Rostov and may even be delivering an ultimatum to the Germans demanding surrender. The Red Air Force last night sighted long German columns moving west from Rostov. The Daily Express correspondent in Stockholm interprets this as supporting the German hints that they are evacuating Rostov because it is "no longer vital." The report coincides with dispatches from Moscow stating that the Germans flung in panzers in a desperate bid to hurl back v the Red Army. The terrific tank battle which developed a few miles south of Rostov may have been due to a German attempt to save the city or to delay the Russian advance sufficiently long enough to permit of the evacuation of the German columns. Already menaced by the Russian forces advancing from Bataisk, the Germans at Rostov are facing a new threat from the south-east. This developed when Russian columns stormed and captured Olginsk, nine miles south-east of Rostov. South-west of Rostov the Russians have captured two more places on the coast. One is Takalynsk and the other is the port of Azov, at the mouth of the Don. With their capture the Russians have strengthened their hold on the Caucasus seaboard and also reduced still further any hopes the Germans may have had of filtering through to Rostov.