RUSSIA HAS HUGE AIR ARMADA READY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 106, 6 May 1943, Page 5

RUSSIA HAS HUGE AIR ARMADA READY

SUPREMACY IN KUBAN Novorossisk Battle At Decisive Phase N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright Rec. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, May 5. The battle for Novorossisk and the entire Kuban bridgehead has entered a decisive phase, with the Russians definitely holding air superiority. This and the Russians' increasing references to the British and American war planes they are using effectively on different fronts dominate the latest reports from Russian sources. Reuters Moscow correspondent says that the Russian attacks in the Kuban bridgehead have grown into a full-sized offensive, with the Soviet artillery at present playing the major land role. The Russians have reached a point overlooking Novorossisk. It is now clear that the operations around the last German foothold on the North Caucasus mainland fall into four groups. Firstly, the attacks along the Kuban Valley; secondly, the German attempts to beat back the Red Army threatening Novorossisk; thirdly, the Russian commando raids- on the coast line and, lastly, big sir battles over the Kuban area. Red Air Force Dominates Sky It is something new for the Germans to find the Red Army Air Force dominating the sky. The Russians have beaten the Germans from the air in a manner reminiscent of the battle for Britain. They have been using American Flying Fortresses as well as British and American medium bombers in recent raids against the war centres of eastern Germany. . The Associated Press correspondent at Moscow reports that the Lurk waffe in the past two days has lost 125 planes in the Kuban air battles. The Red Star says: "Air fighting is constantly going on. The enemy cannot digest the fact that we have air superiority." The Times Moscow correspondent says the Red Air Forie is in the ascendant over the Caucasian foothills and the Taman marshes, blasting the enemy from a tough system of fortifications, and also hitting hard against his Crimean airfields. This indicates a remarkable accession to Russian strength during the last year. Russian Pilots Call the Time Tne Russian pilots are now calling the tune. The Germans rushed fresh fighter squadrons to the Kuban in an attempt to defend the infantry from the Stormoviks and to protect the lines of communication, war.

The British United Press Moscow correspondent declares that the Red Air Force has many thousands of warplanes massed behind the front lines ready to be hurled against any Axis thrust. Thousands of British and American fighters and bombers are waiting with thousands of Rus-sian-made war planes in what is Russia's greatest air armada of the ■ Hurricanes and Airacobras based in Russia already total thousands. | The Russians also control a formidable force of twin-engined American bombers, which proved effective in North Africa and the Pacific. Russia's massive air force has struck two series of heavy blows against the enemy's rear areas—the raids last month against Komgs-: berg, Tilsit and Insterburg, and also heavy attacKs on three night? successively against railway junctions at Gomel, Minsk, Orsha and Bryansk. Referring to the raids against these towns, the British United Press says the Russian Air Force struck another strategic blow against German preparations for an offensive on the central and southern fronts and interrupted supplies from these junctions destined for the Smolensk and Orel sectors further south, where fighting is expected to develop soon. It is officially stated in Moscow that Soviet guerilla forces are playing havoc with the German railway system around Gomel. Traffic over a big area is at a standstill. As a result of their activities a number of trains were blown up in three districts.