MAY BE CUT OFF

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 2, 3 January 1942, Page 7

MAY BE CUT OFF

GERMANS IN CRIMEA

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

LONDON, January 2,

The Kuibyshev radio said that after the capture of Kerch and Theodosia, the Russians are advancing quickly and will be able to completely cut off the German Crimean army's line of retreat. ' The Leningrad radio said that General Meretoskov's forces liberated 10 populated points on December 31, and also captured many tanks, lorries, and guns and 200,000 rounds of ammunition. The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times" says that the German position on the central front is becoming more precarious as the Russian movement from the direction of Kalinin and Rzhev gains momentum. The German debacle north of the OrelTula line can be described as greater than any suffered by the Russians during the campaign. Operations on the Leningrad front have recently been distinguished by more widespread guerrilla exploits which are believed to be harbingers of a more direct attempt to relieve Leningrad. According to information reaching Berlin, the Russians have landed further troops at Kerch and Theodosia. Reinforcements have reached the remnants of General yon Kleist's army. He is preparing to make a stand between Taganrog and the river Kalmius, near Mariupol. A Helsinki communique reports artillery and air activity throughout the Karelian front. The Russians attempted to recapture an island at the north end of Lake Onega, but were repulsed. The Finns captured Sommaro Island, in the Gulf of Finland, used as a base for attacks against the south of Finland. The Moscow night communique states: "On January 1 our troops, after breaking the enemy resistance, continued to advance on several sectors of the front, and occupied, a number, of places, including Staritsa. On December 31 12 German aircraft were destroyed. Four of ours were lost." In one sector on the Central Russian Front, says a Soviet supplementary communique, Russian troops broke the stubborn resistance of the enemy and inflicted heavy, losses in men and material. During one day about 600 enemy officers and^men were annihilated. Russian troops captured 47 guns, 30 machine-guns, and a large quantity of other weapons and war material. During the capture of the railway station of Kozelsk, Russian troops took five military trains of 200 carriages with ammunition and foodstuffs. Soviet pilots operating on a south front town killed during one day 800 officers and men and destroyed about. 240 lorries, 23 tanks, and other war equipment.