NEW RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23848, 18 January 1943, Page 5

NEW RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE

Gains on Voronezh Front

ROSSOSH RETAKEN *(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, January 17. Important Russian gains as a result of a new offensive north and south of Voronezh were announced in a special Moscow communique last night. In three days advances of 31 to 56 miles have been made. Six hundred localities have been recaptured, including the town of Rossosh, and 17,000 prisoners taken.

To-day’s Russian communique says that this new offensive and those on the middle and lower Don and in the northern Caucasus are continuing. It reports a fresh Russian breakthrough on the right bank of the Don, with the routing of a German infantry regiment, and more German losses on the lower Don, where very stiff enemy resistance is reported

The special Moscow communique said: “A few days ago Soviet troops launched an offensive against the enemy troops from three directions: from the region of Silyavny (10 miles west of Svobody, which is 50 miles south of Voronezh), in a south-westerly direction; and from the region of Kantemirovka, in north-westerly and westerly directions. Our troops broke strongly-fortified enemy, defence lines in the area of Silyavny on a front of about 31 miles, and in the adjacent area on a front of about 33 miles. In the area of Kantemirovka they also broke through on a front of about 43 miles.

“In three days of intense fighting our troops, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance, advanced to depths varying from 31 to 56 miles,” the communique continued. “Our troops occupied 800 localities, including the town and railway junction of Rossosh; several district centres and railway stations, including Akhavatka (13 miles north-west of Rossosh), Metrogranovka (15 miles south of Rossosh), Repievka (50 miles north-west of Voronezh), Revenki (35 miles south-west of Rossosh), Kamenka (40 miles due south of Rossosh); and several railway stations, including one 42 miles north of Rossosh.

down the Rostov-Baku railway or parallel to the railway have all made progress. The Moscow correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting System says that the Germans on the lower Don are fighting to the death. More than 90 German tanks have been destroyed and 10,000 Germans have been killed in the last three days. Threat to Salsk

General Maslennikov’s tireless cavalry are within 50 miles of Voroshilovsk. A threat is developing to the Petrovskoe-Divnoie area, which will enable a new thrust against Salsk. already threatened from two other directions, without crossing the Manich river, where the Germans are strongly posted. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times’’ says that violent as is the resistance on the lower Don, the Germans! spirit appears low when they are driven from their positions. Their former bitter determination to hold out when a situation seemed hopeless has gone with the fanatical belief that the Wehrmacht will come back for those entrapped. Small groups of hungry, cold Germans are wandering the Don steppes seeking an opportunity to surrender. Often when taken they utter the phrase, “Hitler Kaput” (Hitler finished). Some Germans are attempting to pass themselves off as Rumanians. Hungarians, and even Poles. > Railway Town Taken ,

“Our troops routed nine enemy divisions, of which three were German and six Hungarian. In three days of fighting we took 17,000 prisoners. According to incomplete figures the booty captured included 75 tanks, 800 guns, 493 mortars, 1200 machine-guns, 52C lorries, 700 horses. 21 radio stations, 350,000 shells, 5,000,000 rounds of ammunition, and 70 stores of various commodities. Our troops destroyed 17 aeroplanes, 135 tanks, and 210 guns. In the three days of fighting 15,000 enemy officers and men were killed. “The break-through was carried out .by troops on the Voronezh front under the command of Lieutenant-General Golikov and troops on the southwestern front under the command of General Vatoutin. The co-ordination of the operations was conducted by the Soviet High Command representative, Colonel-General Kassoevsky.”

Soviet troops in the northern. Caucasus have captured the important railway town of Blagodarnoe, which is on their northern flank, 75 miles east of Voroshilovsk, and is the terminus of a branch railway across the Kuban area, through Voroshilovsk, to connect with the main Baku-Rostov railway. The enemy has been driven from .a town 40 miles north of Pyatigorsk, and m another district five more places have Soviet forces have also reoccupied several places in the northern Donets area. This'is the first indication that the Russians have penetrated' this region. The Russian garrison in Stalingrad has repelled enemy counter-attacks in the factory belt and driven the Axis troops from several more streets. The amount of equipment the Germans are abandoning in the Caucasus excludes the theory that they are voluntarily shortening their lines. Such is the speed of the Soviet advance in the northern Caucasus, covering in a few days distances which it took the Germans three months to cover last year, that the enemy has been compelled to abandon equipment and supplies on a wholesale scale. One Soviet division captured 80 tanks and other booty, including 500 car-loads of bombs, 200 carloads of shells and cartridges, 15 aircraft, and 20 aero engines.

The Moscow paper ‘Tzvestia’’ has published a map showing the southern front. A notable feature is one composite area of 250 miles each way, embracing several battle fronts. In this where the fighting was formerly widely separated, the recent Russian drives have welded the Stalingrad, Don, and Caucasus drives closely together. The front runs roughly from Stalingrad to the Donets Basin, thence to Rostov, Krasnodar, and Tuapse, on the Black Sea. then along the Caucasus east to the spa towns, and then back to Stalingrad. A Luftwaffe pilot, broadcasting over the Berlin radio, lamented Germany’s lack of fighters to protect the transport aeroplanes carrying supplies to the encircled German forces in Russia.

"Fighter protection is not always available and when.it is it is insufficient,” he said. “Accordingly transport aeroplanes huddle closely throughout the flight and they fly low which renders navigation difficult. Many aeroplanes have flown too far and disappeared. When the aerodrome is reached the Russians may be attacking, necessitating unloading while the aeroplane is in motion. Only a man who has unloaded 70 packages from a moving aircraft under fire has any conception of what it means.”

Progress Towards Rostov

Sweeping through 30 more towns, Soviet forces have fought their way to the east bank of the Donets river, 20 miles south-east of Kamenskaya, which is 80 miles north-west of Rostov. The Russians are also steadily

closing in on Rostov from the east, where they are preparing to smash their way across the lower Donets, the last natural barrier before Rostov.

The Red Army advancing south-west along the railway from Zimovniki has reached Kurenny, 35 miles from Salsk, a vital junction 'and main pivot for the German forces in the southern Caucasus.

The Red armies are approaching the vital stage in their offensive, as, in the teeth of stubborn resistance, they steadily battle towards Rostov, which the Germans must hold in order to save the main body of their armies south of the Don. Moscow correspondents emphasise the persistence with which the Germans are .flinging in counter-attacks, but they refer to the lowering of the Germans’ morale when they are driven from their positions. General Rokossovsky’s tanks and infantry, after capturing 10 more townships in 24 hours at a cost to the Germans of 2000 killed and at least 50 tanks, are now about 60 miles from Rostov.

At the same time, the Russian advance on the 100-mile Caucasus front is increasing. Four columns driving