TRAIL OF RUIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1942, Page 6

TRAIL OF RUIN

GERMAN RETREAT

HEAVY TOLL BY RED ARMY

(Rec. 2 p.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 22

A British correspondent on the Russian front west of Maloyaroslavets says that the track of the German retreat is strewn with disabled tanks, wrecked lorries, and

abandoned field guns,

The deep snow which lies everywhere is hindering the work of the repair crews, who are working day and night to repair damaged. tanks. From time to time one comes across big German cemeteries which speak of the heavy toll taken by Soviet troops, guerrilla bands, and ski patrols. Burned villages and blown-up railway bridges are. conspicuous landmarks of the German retreat.

The chairman of the Maloyaroslavets district said that the damage to property in his district amounts to forty million roubles. It includes nearly 2000 buildings burned down in towns and villages. Maloyaroslavets itself, however, is comparatively intact, as the Red Army had surprised the Germans two days before they planned to retreat. The Germans tried, like Napoleon, to withdraw along the Kaluga highway, but, like him, they were forced to take the old Smolensk road. A trail of blood and plunder marked the German retreat, about 10,000 people, including 50 children, having been killed in cold blood.— 8.0. W.

JAVA BASTION

STRONGLY GARRISONED

HOPES OF JAPANESE

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

(Ree. 2 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 22! The Japanese are concentrating: their troops as speedily as possible on the island bases around Java, particularly south-eastern Sumatra, south Borneo, and south Celebes, reports the Batavia correspondent of "The Times."

The Japanese' are making an effort to control the channels eastwards and westwards of Bali leading from the Pacific to the,lndian Ocean, because this would enable the Japanese navy to menace Java's seaboard and also would provide a base for the invasion of Java.

The Dutch believe in "offensive defence," and intend to apply the principle against the Japanese. The Dutch would like to see offensive defence become the keynote of the whole Allied Pacific strategy.

The configuration of Java will aid the defence of the island. The interior is mountainous, with ranges of over 10,000 feet. Practically the entire Dutch East Indies army is concentrated in Java. Offensives against the Japan-