RUSSIAN FRONT

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23985, 28 June 1943, Page 5

RUSSIAN FRONT

Local Land Actions Reported MORE SOVIET AIR ATTACKS (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, June 27. Russian artillery last night broke up enemy troop concentrations in the Balakleya area of the Donets. Shelling caused heavy losses among German infantry, tanks, and transport. German infantry had attempted to cross the Donets in this area the previous night. The Russians made local breaches in the Germans’ main defence line southeast of Orel, north of Orel, and west of Velikye Luki, according to the Berlin radio, which claimed that counterattacks had restored the German positions.

A German High Command communique says: “Germans and Rumanians carried out successful storm troop operations' at various points on the Russian front. We repelled several Soviet attacks in the Orel sector.” Saturday night's Russian communique said: "Nothing important has occurred on the front in the Gulf of Finland. Soviet airmen sank an enemy patrol vessel and damaged a trawler.” Russian activity at Byelgorod, 50 miles north-east of Kharkov, is reported in a Moscow communique. A Russian infantry battalion penetrated the German defences and took a strongpoint west of Byelgorod. Although Byelgorod remains in German fymds, the Russian penetration is.described as important. The Moscow radio announced that a German broadcast on Thursday to the effect that the Germans attacked in the area south of Lake Ilmen and captured strongholds and prisoners did not contain a single word of truth. There had been no fighting on that sector for several weeks. On the Kalinin front on Friday the Russians repulsed three German counter-attacks, the Germans losing about 600 men. West of Rostov, Soviet airmen destroyed six German aeroplanes in combat. Air Operations

The Moscow radio says that on Friday night Russian long-range aircraft raided the railway junction of. Bryansk and enemy aerodromes. Great fires broke out at the railway junction of Bryansk and many aeroplanes were destroyed on enemy aerodromes. Two Soviet aeroplanes did not return. A special Moscow communique reported that many German aeroplanes were destroyed or damaged in Thursday’s Russian raids. Among the targets attacked were railways behind the Smolensk front and a railway station which Orel sector. Trains and ammunition dumps were blown up. , , , , German raiders attempted to bomb the Leningrad area, added the communique. Russian fighters, however, headed the Germans off when they tried to raid two towns near Leningrad. Twelve enemy machines were shot down either in air combat or by anti-aircraft fire. The Russians lost five machines. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the Russian’air offensive against German-held aerodromes reached a peak last week, with hundreds of bombers out every night except Thursday. “Of the last 18 days only six have been without major attacks against enemy airfields,” says the correspondent. “At the most conservative estimate, 500 German aeroplanes have been destroyed on the ground as a result of consistent blasting. ’ The Moscow radio, quoting the Russian journalist Yaroslavsky, said that Russian tank production had increased 38 per cent, since last year. A hundred factories working behind the lines were turning out ever-growing quantities of arms and equipment. Russian rail and river transport since the outbreak of war had successfully coped with the transfer of millions of people and vital industries to the eastern areas of Russia. New railway lines and canals had been built to facilitate the gigantic traffic of troops and arms to the front. Exploitation of Ukraine

‘‘Provided their calculations are not upset by the summer’s military operations, this year will be the first since they swept the area in 1941 that the Germans can be expected to derive any major benefits by their occupation of the Ukraine,” says Carl Sulzberger in the ‘‘New York Times.” “When the Germans took over the province nearly two years ago it was too late and too chaotic for them to secure any important food gains. The destruction wrought by war conditions, the disappearance of live stock and draught animals either by slaughter or evacuation, and the removal of most of the tractors under the scorched earth policy, prevented the Axis from gathering any harvest. Prospects this year are far better from the German viewpoint. „ "Climatically, June has been an excellent month. May provided heavy rains, making up for the exceptionally dry winter with light snowfalls, and harvests above the average are expected throughout Russia. While this helps unoccupied Russia, it also will unquestionably help Germany in some of its conquered areas. The German organisation for occupation is more efficient now, after more than 18 months’ tenancy of the major portion of the Ukraine.”

RUSSIAN AIR OFFENSIVE BETTER PLANES IN SERVICE COMMENT BY SOVIET EXPERT LONDON, June 25. While the world still awaits an eruption on the Eastern Front, the Red Air Force is systematically raiding the Luftwaffe’s first line and second line aerodromes, where the Germans have great concentrations of aeroplanes. These attacks, says Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow, have been maintained practically daily since June 9, and the damage to German aircraft is considerable. The extent of the damage is not known, but LieutenantColonel Denisov, a Russian air expert, points out, first, that the Germans in the Kuban during May failed to attain air superiority and lost three-quarters of their operating fighter squadrons; and, second, that the Germans are having exceptionally heavy losses in massed raids. Lieutenant-Colonel Denisov attributes the Germans’ heavy losses to the fact that the Red Air Force is stronger and that the quality of Russian fighters has improved. Lieutenant-Colonel Denisov added that the Focke Wulf 190 had been countered by large numbers of Yak 7’s and Lavochkin s’s, which are new Russian fighters pow being mass produced. “With the Spitfires and Airacobras, they are unquestionably superior to the German fighters," he said. Lieutenant-Colonel Denisov revealed that the 112 attack aeroplane had been perfected, and the Tupolev 2 had been added to the Russian bomber force. “The Germans, on the other hand, are still flying old machines,” he said. “Their attempts to modify the Junkers 87 by fitting two cannons and using it for attack have not produced a significant improvement. “Our smashing up of many aerodromes has compelled the Germans to avoid concentrating large numbers of aeroplanes in any single district. They now form their raiding forces in the air during the flight to a target. Also, our strong fighter force simply does not allow the Germans to appear in small groups. Thus, the massing of the air forces which the Germans arc employing must be regarded as arising from necessity rather than choice.