Russian Armies Hitting Harder

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 36, 12 February 1943, Page 3

Russian Armies Hitting Harder

AXIS DEFENCES BREAK

Attacking Forces Fifteen Miles From Kharkov

(New Zealand Press Association. —Copyright.—Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, \ February 11. The Russian armies on the 400-mile battlefront between Orel and Rostov are hitting still harder against Germany's broken defence line. . ' Reuters Moscow correspondent declares that Hitler's forces everywhere are retreating or, where no way of retreat is left, striving to stave off annihilation. * Kharkov is now within range of the Russian guns. The Soviet column which took Chuguyev, south of Kharkov, was this morning less than 20 miles from the great Ukraine city, while the other forces which are bearing down on Kharkov Byelgorod and' Volshansk have captured more towns and villages in the past 1 2 hours. Cblumbia Broadcasting System s Moscow representative says the Russians are 15 miles from Kharkov and only two main railway stations separate them from the city. Reuters correspondent adds that fierce fighting is .raging in the heart of the Don Basin coalfield and in mining villages beyond Barvenkova and Kramatorskaya, where German counter-attacks have been flung back with heavy losses. Moreover, the Russians advancing from Barvenkova threaten the important railway junction of Losovaya. Nazis Begin To Experience Acute Fuel Shortage There is reason to believe that Germany is beginning to experience an acute fuel shortage. This has been obvious throughout the Russian advance. The Germans are abandoning masses of lorries, cars and planes owing to lack of petrol. The German position at Rostov has sharply deteriorated in the past 24 hours, says Hie Times Moscow correspondent. Russian infantry units are now on the north bank of the Lower Don, which is an important development in the battle for the city, which is also threatened from the south-east and south-west. Nevertheless, hard fighting is undoubtedly ahead. A distance of at least 125 miles now separates the Rostov garrison from the last German group in the western Caucasus because the recapture of Primorsko-Akhtarskaya, which is the last railhead on the Sea of Azov, has placed'the whole coastrfne between there and the mouth of the Don. in Russian hands. The Times Stockholm correspondent says that reports from Berlin describe the Orel-Slavyansk. stretch of the front, in the centre of which Kharkov is situated, as confused with friend and foe mixed up together. Correspondents emphasise that snowstorms are ragipg, and prefer to the fact that the Russians are constantly receiving reinforcements, thus giving the impression that further German withdrawals are to be expected.