RUSSIAN GAINS IN KUBAN

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23914, 5 April 1943, Page 5

RUSSIAN GAINS IN KUBAN

German Bridgehead Threatened BATTLES CONTINUE ON DONETS (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, April 4. Saturday’s Moscow communique says: “No material changes occurred. On the central front the Russians consolidated their positions, destroying 11 blockhouses. South of Izyum the Russians fought defensively, defeating in one sector a motorised infantry regiment supported by 20 tanks. Russian tanks in the Byelgorod sector, by surprise crashed into German positions on the northern Donets, forcing the enemy to retreat and capturing a ferry, which they held until the arrival of reinforcements. The Russians in the Kuban continued to advance, occupying a village.” The Kuban territory is rapidly drying out under strong sunshine, according to a Moscow message. Soviet troops are becoming more active. They have reached a new German defence line and driven in wedges, which they are methodically widening, in spite of enemy counter-attacks. Air battles continue favourably for the Red Air Force, which has brought down nine German aeroplanes in eight dog-fights for the loss of one machine. Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent says it is reported without confirmation that General Masslennikov’s troops are already at the eastern approaches of Novorossiisk, in pursuance of their aim of cutting the German bridgehead in two. The Germans on the 30 miles wide strip between Novo, rossiisk and the Kuban river are now facing three Russian columns converging on the last remaining strongholds. A Russian force since last autumn has grimly held on to -a group of cement factories in the suburbs of Novorossiisfc, only waiting for reinforcements to make this point play an extremely important part in the recapture of the city. The Kuban country is the only sector on the Russian front where the fighting to-day reached any intensity. The German bridgehead on the Taman Peninsula now consists of only a strip of mainland 40 miles broad and 15 miles deep. The Russians are steadily closing the ring round the remaining Germans In the Kuban area. The two main roads of this desolate Kuban region run through Anastasievskaya. The Red Army is now able to move down a reasonably good road to the Kuban river, with prospects of endangering the Germans on the north bank of the river. Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow states that the Red Army is clearly on the move, and is beginning to squeeze the Germans nearer the sea. The • Berlin radio commentator, Captain Sertorius, declared: “The Russians undoubtedly consider it dangerous to allow the Germans to continue to hold Novorossiisk. They want to eliminate it as quickly as possible. Therefore, the concentration of major Russian forces in the Krasnodar area and further north, which has been observed in the last few days, is possibly the prelude to i big offensive. German bombers In the last few days have been giving their attention not only to Krasnodar but to important junctions on the main trans-Caucasus line." The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times” reports that the enemy has plentiful supplies of men and material in the Crimea, and as long as the Axis bridgehead is not divided and separated from the coast these can be transported fairly easily across the Kerch Straits and the Sea of Azov. “The Times” adds: “The Germans in the Kuban are already frequently launching determined counter-attacks in order to delay, if not prevent, Russian compression of the Taman Peninsula bridgehead or its division into two parts. It is a question of, which side can divert the larger forces to gain supremacy of the Kuban,” The Donets Front ox n Reuter’s correspondent says a fresh German attack 6h Russian bridgeheads on the west bank of tfte Donets river, near Izyum, was smashed. Outlining the fighting on the Donets front, “The Times” states: “The Russians yesterday appeared to have had the best of the fighting for the bridgeheads. The fighting was less intense, but it is likely again to flare up any day.” The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press states that the Germans are rushing up immense reserves of men and material to the Ukraine front, and the dense network of railways and roads in the Germans’ rear is teeming with traffic. The German High Command is regrouping as fast as possible. The only region between the upper Donets and the central front reporting any activity stronger than patrols is west of the Kursk-Orel sector, in the Dmitrlev-Sievsk districts, where each side is trying to improve its positions. The Berlin radio reports a new outburst of fury in the Leningrad area, declaring that the Russians south of Lake Ladoga are attacking in wave after wave in an effort to clear the Germans from a stretch of the Mos-cow-Leningrad railway, and also to widen the land passage to Leningrad. The results of the Russian winter campaign up to March 31 are summed up in a special communique from Mos. cow, which states that 850,000 Germans have been killed and 343,525 taken prisoner, making a total of 1,200,000 casualties all told. In the Red Army advance 5090 aircraft were destroyed, 9190 “tanks destroyed or captured, and 20,360 guns have fallen into Red Army hands. In less than five months the Russian forces have recaptured nearly 200,000 square miles of country and have pushed the enemy back 400 miles.