RUSSIAN FRONT

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23917, 8 April 1943, Page 5

RUSSIAN FRONT

NO IMPORTANT CHANGES FIGHTING ON DONETS AND IN KUBAN (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON. April 7. No important changes are reported from the Russian front, A vast movement of men and material is proceeding along the 1200-miles line as the Russian and German forces prepare for the next stage of the conflict. In the meantime hard fighting is reported only from the Donets and Kuban sectors. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent states that the Germans are seriously worried about the Russian bridgehead on the west bank of the Donets, south of Izyum, the continued existence of which renders the German position in Kharkov insecure. Consequently bitter fighting is going on there daily. The Germans are bringing up more aeroplanes, tanks, and men, A small number of Germans penetrated the Soviet line yesterday, but were wiped out in hand-to-hand fighting. The Germans are unlikely to have forgotten that the Russians’ grim retention of the bridgeheads at Voronezh last year provided the Red Army with jumping-off places for a great offensive.

Berlin radio mentioned fighting in the middle Donets area, north of Balakleya, which is 30 miles northwest of Izyum. The radio said that the Germans had stormed a strategically important locality and reached the Donets on a five-mile front. The Germans continue their attacks on the Russian positions on the Donets river. The Russians smashed the main German attack south of Izyum. Higher up the river a German tank force was driven back by the Russians. German pill-boxes were destroyed by artillery fire.

Reports from the Kuban indicate that after several days of better weather heavy rain is now hampering the movements of General Maslennikov’s forces. He is using the interval to pound the German defence lines with artillery. Meanwhile, Russian Stormoviks are bombing the roads and shipping in the Kerch Straits. “The Times” correspondent m Stockholm states that General Maslennikov is using large forces—the Germans say several divisions—against the Krymskaya sector. This is apparently what the Russians mean in stating that their artillery is shelling a big centre of resistance. Berlin radio’s announcement yesterday that the Germans in Staraya Russa “carried out a successful withdrawal to new positions” is interpreted by one Moscow correspondent to mean that Marshal Timoshenko has thrown the Germans out of the town. Moscow has not officially claimed its capture. , , , Correspondents say that the capture of this strongly fortified base may open the way for the Russian drive through the Baltic States north-east to the Baltic Sea. The German armies still in the Leningrad area may be forced to withdraw to the west to avoid being cut off. Moscow reports a minor flare-up on the Volkhov front, between Leningrad and Lake Ilmen. A German attack in this area was driven back by artillery fire. , The coming of ' spring has brought relief to the people of Moscow, states a 8.8.C. correspondent. The people were facing a grave shortage of fuel and food, but the coming of spring will do away with many of these discomforts. COMING FIGHTING IN RUSSIA RENEWAL OP GERMAN OFFENSIVES (8.0. W.) RUGBY, April 6. During the present period of relative but obviously temporary stability on the battlefronts, attention is inevitably turned to the prospects of the forthcoming campaigns. Press dispatches from Moscow report expectation of a renewed German offensive on a big scale in the near future, as soon as the ground has dried enough in the centre. Persistent German efforts to gain positions across the Upper Donets may point to much bigger operations, but they are also probably dictated by a desire to prevent a renewal of the Russian initiative. Especially heavy German concentrations are reported behind the front from Bryansk to Byelgorod. In this sector, the big German salient round Orel gives a valuable pivot for a large-scale drive from the south of Moscow, aimed at the cutting of the railways leading to the capital. Such an operation might be preceded by an attempt to eliminate the Russian salient based on Kursk.

“The Times” says that the Germans, by a series of delaying actions, partly offensive and partly defensive, have put off a decision in North Africa until the eve of the summer campaigning season in Russia, in which they trust that the great superiority of the Russian fighting men in winter warfare will be a thing of the past. Referring to the probable German offensive, “The Times” says: “Strictly military consideration: suggest that it may be more limited than last year and also in some degree directed against a region such as Moscow, where the belt of complete devastation is narrower than in the south.” *

"The Times” concludes that since simultaneous Allied major offensives are at present an impossibility, the most urgent need is to strike Germany the heaviest possible blows and thus afford the greatest measure of aid to Russia.

“Russia is Germany’s most formidable foe on land, as the combined forces of Britain and the United States are at sea and in the air. To that purpose we have to harness our energies while containing our foes elsewhere, and when the opportunity affords of striking back at them. Such is the programme laid down by the Prime Minister,” says “The Times.” “It is also that on which the mind of the nation is set. Obvious needs, which stand out, are to fight the U-boats with all our skill and resolution and to drive the Axis forces in Tunisia into the sea as soon as possible.”

Memorial Broadcast for N.Z. Pilot.— The 8.8.C. Pacific short wave service at 5.15 p,m. New Zealand time on Friday will broadcast a programme composed of recorded extracts from the memorial service in St. Peter’s Church, Bournemouth, to a New Zealand fighter pilot, Pilot Officer C. H. Hight, who was shot down at Boscombe during the Battle of Britain.—Rugby, April 6.