INCREASED FURY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 22, 27 January 1943, Page 5

INCREASED FURY

The Russian Offensive

LONDON, January 26. The Germans are now talking about the increased fury of the Russian offensive, particularly south of Voronezh. The main news is again from north of Rostov, where Soviet columns, thrusting on to win more ground, have surrounded a powerful enemy force.

! Today's German communique says that the Russians on the front south of Voronezh are now attacking with fresh troops. The "News Chronicle" reporter has spoken of the significance of the German retreat from Voronezh and from the east bank of the Don. The trunk railway from Moscow to Rostov, he says, is now freed from substantial enemy interference all the way down to Kamensko, on the northern Donets. The Germans had to get out of their Voronezh bridgehead because the Russians advancing on its northern and southern flank were making it too dangerous to hold. By clever strategy and hard fighting the Russians had put the enemy in an untenable position and had won an important victory at small cost. The correspondent says that when the history of the war comes to be written the name of Voronezh will be one of the outstanding causes of the Nazi failure on the eastern front. On the Donets front, further south, the Russians have advanced again and occupied more places, and in one sec-

tor they have captured some important heights. German resistance is tough at one point, and though the enemy made repeated counter-attacks the Russians swept on, leaving hundreds of enemy dead behind them. In the northern Caucasus the* Germans and their satellite forces are still going back as fast as they can across the Kuban plains towards Kropotkin and Tikhoretsk, the last two important railway junctions left to Hitler in the Caucasus. Latest reports say that the Russians are only about 35 miles from both places. Some correspondents say that the Russian drive south of Voronezh may be more harmful to Hitler's forces than his reverses in the Caucasus. A big movement is being carried out, bounded by Rostov in the south, Voronezh in the north, and Kharkov in the west. The western arm of the Soviet pincers is pressing on towards Kursk and Kharkov, while the eastern arm is biting southwards into the Don Basin.