12 MILES FROM KHARKOV

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23537, 15 January 1942, Page 5

12 MILES FROM KHARKOV

Soviet Forces Make Notable Advance

THREAT TO VYAZMA DEVELOPS (Received January 14, 11 p.m.) (U.P.A.) LONDON, January 14. | The most notable news from the Eastern Front | to-day is that Soviet forces are now only 12 miles from Kharkov, the big industrial city of the eastern Ukraine. From Kharkov north to Orel heavy Russian attacks are being made, and the latest advance means that the Germans’ winter defence line has again been broken. On the Leningrad ... . front, 600 miles to the north of the scene of the battle for Kharkov, the Russians, according to one report, have reoccupied Staraya Russa. This town is 140 miles south of Leningrad, and the Russians there threaten to outflank the Nazis who are being pushed back from Leningrad. - The latest Soviet successes on the Moscow front are the recapture of Kirov, about 85 miles south-east of Smolensk, and Dorochovo, east of Mozhaisk. The recapture of Kirov marks another advance of the southern arm of the pincers movement directed against Vyazma.

According to the “Red Star” the railway from Malo Yaroslavets to Kaluga is now clear of the enemy. This follows the recapture ofTichanovo Pustin, 10 miles north-west of Kaluga. The railway was important to the enemy, not so much lor transport but as an advantageous defence line. The Soviet Tass News Agency says that the Red Army’s drive is growing each day. The new chain of successes supports this claim. According to the Moscow radio a surprise attack led to the capture of Kirov. It enabled the Russians to overcome the troops guarding the approaches to the town and then sweep in before further serious resistance was possible. Machine-gunners had to be dislodged from roof-tops and cellars, but the street encounters were short. The Germans streamed westwards, leaving a considerable quantity of booty. They set fire to the town, destroying houses and flats. Russian troops helped to extinguish fires and rescue inhabitants’ belongings' while others were still fighting the enemy. The situation in the Crimea Is confused, but all reports make it clear that the initiative is still with the Russians. Several more landings are reported. The Russians are using parachute troops and cavalry. The garrison at Sebastopol, as well as making sorties under cover of fog, has launched a sea-borne attack, a force landing on the north shore of

Inkerman Bfiy and capturing the village there. Other Soviet units in the east ol the peninsula are exerting heavy pressure towards the Perekop Isthmus, the only line of retreat for the Germans. The Soviet High Command announces: "In several sectors on January 13 our troops, continuing to fight their way forward, occupied several localities, among them Kirov and Dorochovo. “On January* 12 four German aircraft were destroyed. - We lost one. On January 12 the Soviet Air Force destroyed three tanks, more than 380 lorries with infantry and supplies, 245 ammunition cars, 17 guns and crews, and nine anti-aircraft nests, set fire to 56 railway carriages, blew up two ammunition dumps, and routed and partly annihilated one infantry regiment.” The German press continues to excuse the “still fluid” winter line in Russia, explaining that Hitler's defence line is very pliable, having considerable depth. In such territory, it ia~ said, changes of 100 kilometres or less are of no account. The Berlin “Boersen Zeitung” says: “The Russian High Command surprisingly scon saw through the German intention to withdraw to a winter line and started an offensive to frustrate the plan to erect winter quarters. The battles now raging are as fierce as those of the summer and autumn, but the Russians possess numerical superiority and the winter conditions favour the Red Army and seriously hinder the German troops."