RUSSIANS STILL ATTACKING

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23647, 26 May 1942, Page 5

RUSSIANS STILL ATTACKING

Struggle Round Kharkov

i HITLER LEAVES FOR FRONT

CHANGES IN NAZI ADMINISTRATION

EXPECTED GERMAN OFFENSIVES (Received May 25, 11 p.m.) (N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, May 25. The Soviet midday communique says: “During the night our troops, having consolidated their positions, engaged in offensive operations in the direction of Kharkov. On the IzyumBarvenkova sector our troops continued stubborn struggles with enemy tanks and infantry. Nothing of importance happened on other fronts.” It is thought in London that the main fighting is in the Izyum area, rather than in the Kharkov area proper. The Soviet midnight communique said: “Our troops on the Kharkov front on Sunday waged offensive operations and forged ahead. On the Izyum-Barvenkova front our troops were engaged in fierce defensive fighting with enemy tanks and infantry, in the course of which the enemy suffered heavy josses. Twenty-four German aeroplanes were destroyed on Saturday for the loss of 11 Russian aircraft.” There are indications, says a Moscow message, that Hitler Is about to open two new offensives-—On the Smolensk front and against the Caucasus. With the evacuation of the Kerch Peninsula it is believed that the Germans are likely to try to strike across the narrow straits to the Caucasus, and a Russian j High Command spokesman has broadcast a warning that the Germans are concentrating enormous numbers of tanks and guns on the Smolensk front.

The general position in the Kharkov area is that Marshal Timoshenko is consolidating his gains in all the captured positions and advancing in some sectors, in spite of fierce counter-at-tacks. Marshal von Bock is continually changing his tactics in an effort to stem the Russian advance, “Red Star” says that from 20 to 30 battles take place daily over the Russian front in the struggle for mastery of the air. The newspaper adds: “The Soviet Air Force has wrested the initiative and is firmly holding it because of the'greater skill of the Soviet pilots and their better aircraft.” Moscow messages dealing with the general position say that though major fighting has not yet broken out, both sides are massing men and material. Ihe Russians are sending numerous groups to the enemy’s rear to wreck communications and interfere with the intensified regrouping of troops and the erection of fortifications. The Russian newspaper “Pravda" says that big guns on both sides of the Kharkov front are firing ceaselesisly, and fierce infantry, tank, and air battles are being fought. The Germans are resisting strongly, but they are being slowly driven to the west. The German-controlled Paris radio admits that vast battles are being waged along the whole Kharkov front, but claims that the Russians have been

The supplement to the Russian midday communique describes how the enemy was forced to retreat after driving a wedge into the Russian lines. The enemy left 750 dead, and the Russians captured five anti-tank guns and 14 machine-guns. In the Izyum-Barvenkova area fighting has reached a new pitch of ferocity. “Red Star” says that the Germans are launching constant attacks and more reinforcements are being rushed from front to front in an all-out effort to smash the Russian lines. Soviet forces have counterattacked at one point and are now fighting on the outskirts of a village, where they are endeavouring to blunt the German spearhead. The Soviet Air Force is systematically pounding German aerodromes behind the battle line. In one raid 2Q machines at least were destroyed on the ground. Russian reports from the IzyumBarvenkova region indicate that the Germans have been held, in spite of heavy fighting and Axis claims that the situation there continues favourable to the Axis. Loss of Kerch Peninsula “Red Star’ 1 says that the Russian abandonment of the Kerch Peninsula was caused largely by the Luftwaffe suddenly massing hundreds of aeroplanes from other points on the 12 to 14 miles 1 of the Kerch front, and concentrating terrific hammer blows from the air. The Russian Air Force nevertheless managed to hit back hard. In one instance a group of fighters raided a German aerodrome in the Crimea, where 100 aeroplanes were burned and 50 damaged. The aeronautical correspondent of the Press Association says that German dive-bombers and fighters from Sicily participated in the Kerch offensiye, “presumably those belonging to the squadrons which Air Marshal Kesselring previously flung against Malta.” The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press reports that Kerch, one of the oldest cities in Russia, is now in ruins. Casualties in the fighting on the peninsula are believed to be very heavy on both sides, but the Russians succeeded in saving the bulk of their men and equipment, which, after retreating under a three days’ rearguard action, have now been diverted to reinforce the Taman Peninsula. The Lisbon correspondent of the British United Press says that it is learned from a reliable source that Germany has lost more than 2,000,000' killed -or permanently maimed since the outbreak of war. He recalls Mr Churchill’s recent statement that more Germans have perished on the Russian front than in the whole of the last war. The correspondent adds that Marshal von Brauchitsch is believed to have warned Hitler, that Germany can afford to lose not more than 2,500,000 men. This limit may be reached in August.

beaten back to the Donets, north-east of Kharkov. The stern struggle extends along a front of 125 miles. Thousands of tanks and aeroplanes and 1,000,000 men are locked in a deadly grip within'the area along the loop of the Donets river. The intensity of the fighting in the crucial Kharkov area can be gauged from the admission of a German infantry prisoner that his unit in three days lost at least 50 per cent. of its • strength. Russian sources describe a duel between 150 German tanks and Russian artillery from May 15 to May 17. A hundred enemy tanks were destroyed by the artillerymen, who braved a continuous hail of thermite bullets, which burned their guns and their clothes.

PLAN OF CAMPAIGN AGAINST RUSSIA LONDON, May 24, Hitler has left Berlin suddenly for the Eastern Front, where, according to Stockholm reports, all the generals commanding the operations against Russia have been called to a special conference to revise the German plan of campaign. This move is taken as the surest indication that Marshal Timoshenko s surprise offensive has completely upBet the German plans for summer operations, at least on the southern front, and is threatening the vast stores of equipment and munitions which have been built up in preparation for the German attack. “The fates are running against HitJar," says the editor of the “Sunday Express,” Mr John Gordon. “For the first time since the outbreak of war Hitler has let a year pass without either a military or diplomatic victory. Hitler has tried his generals and his intuition. Now he has put his intuition back in the cupboard and brought out his generals again. "Much of the fighting power of the German Army was destroyed last winter. Not all Hitler’s intuition, nor all his generals can make that shattered and shaken army do this year What it could not do last year. “The mass of the people in this country see that this year a great chance has come to us. They believe .that two nations attacking Germany Simultaneously are better than one and that Hitler is now so securely in the grip of Stalin that his back is open, or soon will be, to the fatal stab. To deliver it needs strength, but more than strength. It needs courage and that is our quality.’’ -Deaths in U.S. Disasters.—The -■American Red Cross has reported that ■pore than 250 people have been killed Tn the United States this spring as the Jesuit of a combination of natural disasters. In addition, 2300 people have . been seriously injured, and 7000 families affected and many rendered homeless. The spring disasters have included tornadoes, cloudbursts, ice lams, floods, and forest fires, together "With a mine explosion in West Virginia ; Which killed 56.—Washington, May 25.

NEW COUNCIL SET UP BY GOERING (Received May 25, 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 24. “Goering’s establishment in Germany of a council of service chiefs and industrialists is the second important German home front development at the week-end,” says the diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” “The other being the dismissal of Darre, the Nazi Agricultural Minister. “The remarkable feature of Goering s move is that the council does not include active members of the Nazi Party, apart from Goering himself. Practically all the members of the council personally support Goering. “The council has dedreed the introduction of more foreign workers, restricted holidays, and longer hours. “The council.includes Marshal Milch, Colonel-General Fromm (who is an old collaborator with Goering), and also Paul Kleiger, of the Hermann Goering works, and other military, naval, and industrial personalities. “Darre’s downfall is a result of the breakdown of the German food policy with which he had been associated since Hitler came to power. He was chosen as the scapegoat. Darre’s successor, Herbert Backe, has been Secretary of State under Darre, and consequently no real policy change is to be exp6cted.” The foreign editor of “Reynolds News” is of the opinion that Hitler is planning a new purge of Nazi Party leaders. "Though it will be less drastic than the night of the long knives in 1934, it will involve many of the bestknown party chiefs," he says. “One of the first heads to roll into the basket is likely to be that of von Papen. Led by Goebbels and von Ribbentrop, the ‘Papen must go’ clique is stressing his failure to bring Turkey into the Axis orbit.” Gold Star Mothers.—President Roosevelt has approved a plan for mothers, who have lost their sons in the armed services, to be entitled to wear a threeinch black mourning band with a gold star for each one killed in the war.— Washington, May 24.