LOSSES GREATEST EVER RECORDED”

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23995, 9 July 1943, Page 5

LOSSES GREATEST EVER RECORDED”

(N.Z.P.A.—8.0.W.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, July 8. The battle for the Kursk salient is as violent as ever. The Russians are folding firm in the north against the drive from Orel, and in the Byelgorod area, in the south, where the Germans have made some gains, they are counter-attacking strongly. Moscow reports say that the Germans have taken two more places near Byelgorod, but the Russians recovered one by a counter-attack. In the Orel-Kursk direction, after the first day’s failure, the enemy switched his attack in a new direction, where, however, the opposition proved even stiffer. “The German losses in their present offensive are the greatest ever recorded in such a short space, even in this war,” says a special announcement from the Soviet Information Bureau, broadcast by the Moscow radio. “In three days 30,000 German troops were killed, 1539 tanks destroyed or damaged, and 649 aircraft shot down.” I Summing up the progress of the battle, the statement says: “It would be wrong to underestimate the strength of the German troops engaged in this major offensive, because it is very great. It would also be premature to draw final conclusions on the outcome of the fighting; but one thing is clear beyond doubt: the decisive offensive the Germans launched on July 5 did not meet with success in the first three days.”

The Soviet Information Bureau also gays ,that the German forces participating in the offensive consist of 15 panzer, one motorised, and 14 infantry divisions. Numerous Luftwaffe formations, not only from other sectors, but also from western Europe, have been thrown in, including two special bomber forces and one fighter force transferred from western Europe to the Eastern Front between June 9 and 29. Another force arrived on July 5 from Jugoslavia. “The German High Command,” it adds, “concentrated its main forces on narrow sectors of the front, the aim being to crush quickly the Soviet defences and encircle and annihilate th» Russian forces in the Kursk salient. The blow, which did not catch our troops by surprise, was delivered from two directions, namely, from the area south of Orel towards Kursk, and from the Byelgorod area northward, also in the direction of Kursk. “In both sectors fierce fighting is ing on, with our troops firmly hold- ( *hair positions. Only in some secL.if of the Byelgorod area has the enemy, at enormous cost, succeeded in slightly penetrating our defences. “Having got their dues, the Germans are now shouting that it is not they who attacked, but the Soviet troops.” Heavy fighting, which cost the Germans 520 tanks and 229 aeroplanes yesterday, is reported in last night’s Soviet communique, which says “To-day our forces in the Orel-Kursk and Byelgorod directions fought stubborn actions against the enemy, who continued his offensive, employing large tank and infantry forces and large air forces brought up from other sectors. Heavy air combats lasted throughout the day. “In the Orel-Kursk direction all enemy attacks were unsuccessful, while in the Byelgorod direction the enemy, after sustaining severe losses, made some headway. “To-day, in the Orel-Kursk and ■Byelgorod directions, 520 enemy tanks were destroyed or disabled, and 229 enemy aeroplanes were shot down by fighters and anti-aircraft fire. According to figures now verified, our fighters and anti-aircraft guns yesterday brought down not 111 enemy aeroplanes, as previously announced, but 217 enemy aeroplanes.” A supplement to the communique says: “In the Orel-Kursk direction Soviet troops fought stubbornly with advancing enemy troops the whole or Wednesday. Eighty to 100 German tanks incessantly attacked one Red Army unit. The tanks were followed by large motorised infantry forces. The Soviet troops repulsed all the attacks, and are firmly holding their positions, “In some sectors of this front several enemy tank groups, consisting of 15 to 30 tanks, broke through into the deptns of the Soviet-defences. By the evening all the enemy tanks which had broken through had been annihilated. Among those destroyed or disabled were 40 Tiger tanks. . “The Soviet Air Force in fierce aerial engagements inflicted severe losses on the Luftwaffe. . If ... “In the Byelgorod direction this morning the Germans, after an hour s artillery preparation, renewed the offensive. Several localities and valuable positions and heights changed

hands several times. During the whole day the enemy constantly brought up reinforcements, which were thrown into battle at once. During the evening in one sector of this front the enemy succeeded in advancing to an insignificant degree anfl occupied several villages. Soviet troops launched a counter-attack, and are fighting for the restoration of the situation." The supplement also reports local activities on the Kalinin front and west of Rostov. "Desperate fighting is going on inside the Russian lines at the points where German tanks made local penetrations," says Reuter's Moscow correspondent. "There is no sign of the enemy pressure weakening. The Germans are bringing reinforcements by gliders right up to the front line. They are doing this to make up for their transport losses." An official announcement on the Moscow radio says that on Tuesday night large forces of Soviet long-range aircraft dealt blows at enemy troops and materials in the Orel-Kursk and Byelgorod directions. The aeroplanes bombed infantry columns and concentrations of tanks and lorries, as well as the enemy rear. Heavy losses were inflicted. One Soviet aeroplane is missing .1. i iv. One report from Moscow says that the enemy has now lost 1791 tanks and 669 aeroplanes. Reuter's correspondent in Moscow says that the great German offensive in Russia is being directed by FieldMarshal von Kluge, who, in the first phases of the war, directed the German attack which swept through Minsk and Smolensk to the gates of Moscow. Last winter, he succeeded FieldMarshal von Bock as commander of the German armies in Russia. Marshal von Kluge devised the hedgehog defences round Velikye Luki, Rzhev, Vyazma, and Orel, but all these bastions except Orel fell to the Russians in-their recent great offensive. Correspondents say that the Germans can be expected to keep up the tempo of their present attack, in spite oi losses, for another two or three days.