Red Army Offensives

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 31, 6 February 1943, Page 5

Red Army Offensives

fA Moscow dispatch states that -the gap through which the Germans are able to escape from the Caucasus to Rostov is now reduced to 15 miles. General Golikov is still driving on speedily and exploiting the capture of Tim and Shchigri for loosening the hinge of the German central and southern defensive systems at Kursk. Three powerful Russian columns are bearing down on Kursk, the most northerly of which is advancing on the Orel-Kursk railway about 20 miles from the city, as flanking support for thrusts from the west. The occupation of Tim is most important because it controls five roads radiating'to Shchigri, Kursk the Kursk-Kharkov railway, and the Va.u-iki-Astornoye railway, giving the Russians key strategic positions against Simultaneously, General Vatoutin's forces have broadened the front against Kharkov by the capture of Dvurechnaya and Borovaya, thereby tearing up one of the strongest German defence lines along the east.'bank of the Oskol River. Here both sides had mustered all arms for battle, but the Russian gunners devastating^ smashed the fortifications and infantry clinched the assault with the bayonet. RED RING BEING TIGHTENED. Reuters Moscow correspondent re•rarts that German corpses litter an Ihe roads from Voronezh westwards. The Red Army is tightening the ring around the trapped German forces, which according to captured German officers are facing an acute shortage of 'food and munitions. One force which was trapped west of Voronezh was completely annihilated in-a large inhabited locality south-east of KastorB°The Germans, after the capture of Minskaya, possess only one railway, namely that from Krasnodar to AJchtari, for communications to the bea of Azov from the west Caucasus. An additional menace to. the Germans comes from the Russian landings behind the Germans at Novorossisk, which have not been mentioned by the Russians, but are believed to be operating effectively. CAUCASUS OFFENSIVE. "The Times" Stockholm correspondent says that the main Russian offensive at present is largely aimed towards the Sea of Azov. Unless the Germans are able to counteract with larger and stronger forces than hitherto the chances of orderly evacuation appear meagre. If they do not halt the Russians they will repeat the Stalingrad disaster. Such a Russian move has been foreshadowed for weeks, and it is remarkable, that the Germans have been unable to prevent the deep penetration already achieved. This apparently is not due exclusively to the German Command's confusion and futility, but to its inability adequately to reinforce the troops and ~Tt the breakdown in the. transport system, which has been created by the local scarcity of fuel. The scale of the Russian advances in several widely separated sectors recently is probably due to the influx of reinforcements of men and material. The Germans significantly report that Russians from Stalingrad are operating between Voronezh and Kursk, where the Russians are busily liquidating divisions and smaller units which they by-passed when the jaws of the pincers bit into the Kursk-Orel SGctor The' Germans, fighting fiercely, sometimes mustered many tanks, which were not only outnumbered but inferior to the Russian tanks. In one tank battle the Russians knocked out 54 of 60 German tanks. The Russians captured an aerodrome with 12 aircraft, tons of fuel, and sufficient bombs to supply two Soviet squadrons for a year. Tonight's special Moscow communique announces the capture of the town and railway station of Stary Oskol, south-west of Voronezh, where the encircled garrison was either wiped out or taken prisoner. |n the Ukraine the Russians have captured the town and railway station of Izyum. Berlin radio stated that 47,000 wounded and sick German soldiers were evacuated by air from the Stalingrad area.

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Kec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, February 5. Despite stiff er German resistance, the Russians' twin offensives against the Kharkov-Kursk line and against the remnants of the German strongholds in the Caucasus are still mounting in fury. The Germans have rushed up reinforcements from deep in the Ukraine to support the defenders in the centre, but General Vatoutin's advance is still gaining in momentum, while Marshal Yeremenko 's troops are preparing to assault Bataisk, the last bastion of Rostov in the Caucasus.