BIG AERIAL STRUGGLE ON RUSSIAN FRONT

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 213, 4 June 1943, Page 5

BIG AERIAL STRUGGLE ON RUSSIAN FRONT

Disastrous Enemy Bid; Attacks Kept Up On Both Sides LAND FIGHTING ALSO LIVELIER (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) i LONDON, June 3. Great air battles, together with bombing offensives on both sides of the front line, are taking place in Russia,, while the land front also has livened up. The Red Air Force and the Luftwaffe are making all-out assaults on supply centres and communications. A special Russian announcement stated that the Germans yesterday afternoon sent 500 aircraft to raid Kursk (north of Kharkov). The Germans so far had lost 123 aircraft, and the Russians 30. Moscow radio stated that some of the raiders succeeded in penetrating to the town, which they bombed indiscriminately, causing damage and civilian casualties. Violent air battles developed, in which 93 raiders were shot down and 30 others were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire.

It is later reported that in the last 24 hours battles have been fought over the Kuban front between groups of wore than 100 planes at a time. . The Germans claim that the land offensive by the Russians in the Kuban has been resumed on a large scale. Moscow radio said that Soviet longrange aircraft ou Tuesday night carried out mass attacks on the railway junction at Smolensk and the railway stations at Karachev and Krasnygor. As a result of tile bombing of an enemy train at Smolensk there were many tires, followed by explosions. There were large explosions in an ammunition dumps area at Karachev. Direct hits were observed in the Krasnygor area, where there were large ammunition, oil and other war dumps, and the entire area was one conflagration. One Soviet plane is missing. Moscow reports that the Germans threw in heavy forces of infantry against tlie Russian lines in the Kalinin sector, north-east of Moscow, and managed to advance after fierce fighting. A counterattack in force pushed the Germans back to their original positions, killing about 2000 of them.

Russian infantry forced the Germans out of three places in a local attack north-east of Kursk.

Reuter's Moscow correspondent says that the reason why the German summer offensive, which was generally expected to be launched in May, has so far failed to materialize lies undoubtedly in the terrific Russian air offensive during the vital first fortnight of May when the German Command was ready to strike. Since the beginning of April, the correspondent says, the Germans have been massing huge quantities of tanks, planes and troops on key fronts, including the Orel-Bryansk, Kharkov-Byelgorod, and Disichansk-Voroshilovgrad-Taganrog sectors, but the Russian air attacks last month destroyed practically half the petrol the Germans had brought up to feed the Luftwaffe squadrons destined to take part in the May offensive. Hitler was forced to postpone his originally scheduled zero hour by the strength, timeliness and accuracy of the Soviet air onslaught. The Germans were obliged to turn back and try to fill up the holes torn in their offensive preparations. These gaps were partly made good during the second half of May, which explains the resumption of the Soviet air offensive, with smashing attacks in the past few days against vital communication centres and bases.

“A grim struggle is now going on for air supremacy over the front, and the enemy is also doing his utmost to paralyse the Soviet communications and important centres in the rear.” The “Red Star” warns that the war in the air is daily growing fiercer.

LAND SITUATION

Recent Sharp Fighting

LONDON, June 2.

-Moscow radio states that in spite of the comparative lull a state of tension prevails along the entire Russian front. Russian artillery on the Moscow front is hammering the enemy positions, and Russian artillery in the Lisichansk area, in the Donetz bend, is preventing the Germans from erecting fortifications and concentrating infantry. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that since the Russians established the new bridgehead on the west bank of the Donetz near Lisichansk in the first week of May the Germans have lost 7000 in killed alone, in fruitless attempts to dislodge them. Every day there is some engagement in this sector, and several have 'been on a considerable scale. The net result is that at several points the Russians have enlarged and consolidated their foothold. On the central front facing the approaches to Smolensk the Russians have also taken heavy toll of the enemy since the so-called lull set in nine weeks ago. From Leningrad to the Sea of Azov the two-months lull has cost Hitler in killed alone the equivalent of three or four good divisions. The famous Siberian snipers are making' life extremely uncomfortable for the Germans in the “quiet” sectors. Ten ace snipers in May killed 1002 Germans. Battle in Kuban.

The Kuban battle is still in the local preparation stage, and has not yet become a general offensive against the Germans.

Berlin radio reports: “The third phase of the great battle of the Kuban bridgehead began yesterday. Numerous batteries of Soviet howitzers and trench mortars on the previous night pounded the German and Rumanian bridgeheads on the eastern sector for several hours. The great new battle began at the crack of dawn. The Russians had brought up five new tank brigades and several rifle divisions. The bulk of the tanks formed the first offensive wave, which rolled up in close formation. The German defenders allowed the tanks to approach to within a few hundred yards and then dealt a devastating blow with heavy weapons.” The radio claims that the majority of the tanks were destroyed or immobilized, but admits that one group of enemy armoured cars succeeded in pressing beyond the German main line to the west. Berlin radio states that increasingly lively skirmishes are reported from other ■parts of the eastern front.