RUNS PRESSING TO NOVOROSSISK

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 80, 5 April 1943, Page 3

RUNS PRESSING TO NOVOROSSISK

GUNS' GUARD PORT

Fierce Enemy Efforts To Take Donetz Bank

N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, April 4. On the Russian fronts the great question marie at the moment is: Will the' Russians retake the Black Sea port of Novorossisk? The amazing position exists at Novorossisk that while the Germans hold the town and port they have not been able to use the port because a group of Russians throughout the winter clung to the big cement works on the southern outskirts and their guns dominate the port.

Reuters Moscow correspondent points out that the determined Russian movement in the Kuban has been going on for a week and the capture of Prikubansky, which is 29 miles from Novorossisk, indicates that the tempo is being maintained. The Germans' most definite offensive at present is being made south of Isyum, where they are keeping up tireless efforts to dislodge the Russians from bridgeheads on the west bank of the Donetz. Fighting inside a small loop of the Donetz is raging fiercely. German attacks, beginning with a 45-minute air bombardment, lasted all yesterday. The Germans at one stage penetrated the Russian front line, but a counter-attack restored the position. The German news agency stated the Russians, for the first time since the winter, were attempting to supply Leningrad by ships, escorted by icebreakers, across Lake Ladoga. Effective Soviet Tank The Moscow radio reported that the Red Army is now generally using a new type of tank called the "160," which was first used in breaking the Leningrad blockade, when it stormed a steep bank of the Neva River which the Germans considered tank-proof. Although the battle front has quietened, the Russian Press warns the people there are testing struggles ahead. The Germans are stated to be rushing up a huge number of freshlyformed divisions. Russian guerillas have observed an endless procession of trains to the Ukraine, where the fast-drying ground is favouring concentration. Reuters Stockholm correspondent says it is reported, but not confirmed, that General Masslennikov's troops in the Caucasus are already at the eastern approaches to Novorossisk in pursuance of their aim of cutting the German bridgehead in two. The Germans, on a 30-mile-wide strip between Novorossisk and the Kuban River, are now facing three Russian columns, which are converging on the last remaining strongholds. An earlier Moscow communique said: "No material changes have occurred. On the central front the Russians have consolidated their positions and destroyed 11 blockhouses. South of Isyum the Russians fought defensively, defeating in one sector a motorised infantry regiment supported by 20 tanks. Russian tanks in the Bielgorod sector by surprise crashed into German positions on the northern Donetz, forcing the enemy to retreat and capturing a ferry, which was held until the arrival of reinforcements. The Russians in the Kuban area of the Caucasus continued their advance."