City Of Rostov Taken By Storm

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 38, 15 February 1943, Page 3

City Of Rostov Taken By Storm

RUSSIAN TRIUMPH

Kharkov Also Menaced— Germans May Be Trapped

[~|. (New Zealand Press Association.—Copyright.—Rec. noon.) \§\ LONDON, February 14. The capture of the city of Rostov, gateway to the Caucasus, and of Voroshilovgrad, one of the principal industrial towns in the Donetz Basin, is announced to-night in a special Soviet communique. An attempt by the Germans to abandon Kharkc one of Hitler's important bastions in South Russia, also a German report that Axis forces are evacuating Novorossisk and an apparent effort to carry out a "Dunkirk" by the German remnants in the Caucasus are other highlights* in latest dispatches from Moscow and Stockholm. Reuter's Moscow correspondent reports that the railway from Kharkov to Kiev is packed with trains carrying part of the German force now practically trapped inside Kharkov. Lowflying Stormovik dive bombers are harassing their retreat. ! Kharkov Practically Hemmed in on Three Sides Kharkov is practically hemmed in on three sides. Five powerful Red Army columns, despite blizzards, are rapidly moving on the city, and the nearest Russians are on the outskirts of 'Kharkov, which their guns are bombarding. The German retreat lines to Poltava are being pounded by Russian planes day and night. The Germans* only other retreat by railway is to Dnepropetrovsk, via Krasnograd, but the Russians, are within ten miles of this railway. | The* Germans-are reported to be concentrating in an effort the Kharkov garrison to Poltava. I A German official military spokesman, according to a Stockholm message to-night, significantly admitted that the Russians-are making a concentrated attack on Kharkov. Mean-i while the Germans are making a terrific effort to hold KharkovThey threw in strong armoured forces after the capture of Rogan, seven-miles from the city, but Russian tanks rumbled up, and after a*bitter battle hurled the enemy out, enabling Russian infantry to push on and recapture many villages.

The German position in the whole of the Donetz Basin has become more critical after the Russian occupation of Novor cherkask, from which Red armies in the past 24 hours have been striking swiftly at the routed Germans from a fortified centre, capturing several townships and villages. Germans Stubbornly Resist With Tanks, and Infantry The Germans stubbornly resisted the Russian advance to Novocherkask, counter-attacking with tanks and infantry six times within a few hours and losing hundreds of men and a majority of their tanks. The Germans were then forced back into their original fortresses. They fought in the streets, where 900 German dead were/counted after the capture of the town. The Russian capture of Shak-tui and Likhaya has consolidated their grip on the network of Donetz Basin railways and provided a springboard fox? further encirclement of the Germans who are now dependent for Tetreat on the railway from Stalino to Semenovka, while the Russians are still hitting hard to narrow the 75-mile gap between Krasnoarmeisk and Mariupol. The full extent of the Russian, victory at Krasnoarmeisk is now apparent. It is the focal point of the German "hedgehog" system. The Germans fought desperately for the town, and the battle resulted in bloody hand-to-hand struggles. Tbe German news agency asserts that the evacuation of NoVorossisk has begun. The Red Star says the Germans are making an effort to establish an air umbrella over the Caucasus, and are bringing in dive bombers from Tunisia and fighters from Holland. Moscow correspondents interpret this as an attempt to assist the evacuation of the Germans across Kerch Strait. Russian airmen and anti-aircraft batteries shot down 31 planes in this area yesterday.