RUSSIAN OFFENSIVES IN SIX SECTORS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 198, 21 August 1943, Page 5

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVES IN SIX SECTORS

GAINS AT KHARKOV

Unprecedented Scale Of Air Fighting

N.Z Press Association —Copyright Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 20

To-night's Soviet communique states the Russians on the Kharkov front have advanced from three to six miles and half and occupied over 20 inhabited localities, including Lebedin, about 30 miles south-west of Sumy. The Russians on the Bryansk front, also south-west of Demensk, have improved their positions. Reuters point out that if the German statements about the various new Russian offensives are taken at full value then the Russians are conducting offensives at six points along a 1000-mile front from Finland to the Sea of Azov. Points which %e Germans have named are: (1) The Louhi sector, which is the Finnish front and part of the Murmansk front; (2) Staraya Russa, which the Russians have not yet confirmed; (3) the SmolenskBryansk front; (4) the Bryansk front itself; (5) the Kharkov front, and (6) the Mius front, where Berlin for several days has dwelt on "hard defensive battles" west of Rostov, of which Moscow so far has not given any indication. Correspondents agree that the air fighting on the Russian front has reached an unprecedented scale. Relays of Red Air Force planes hammer German reinforcements as they move up to the front. airmen are turning the roads behind the German lines into streams or blazing lorries, cars and tanks. The Luftwaffe is switching its forces from or.e sector to anotnei in an attempt to achieve local air superiority. Most Decisive Battle The Daily Express emphasises that the news that the Russians have compelled the Germans to evacuate a considerable stretch along tne right bank of the Northern Donetz is tremendous. It opens the way f° complete envelopment of &»s T *y?l from the south. It is not a battle tor the mere possession of Kharkov, it is strategically the wars most important battle and will decisively affect its duration. The Russians on the Bryansk front captured an'important knot.or resistance on the direct eastein approach to the city. The Germans had turned four villages into a powerful strong point. The uea Army cleared out the Germans attei several hours' bayonet fighting. The Kharkov fighting is assuming the proportions of one of tne greatest encounters of the whole or the war, says the Moscow corespondent of the Exchange Telegiapn Company. Bitter air battles are i aging daily, with the Russians holding air mastery, in spite of Luftwane reinforcements which are constantly arriving from other sectors.