RED ARMY'S PLANS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 118, 20 May 1943, Page 5

RED ARMY'S PLANS

SPECULATION BY NAZIS LONDON, May 18. Berlin radio claimed that strong Russian forces were concentrating in the Tula and Kaluga region, south-west of Moscow, probably with the intention of attacking in the direction of Smolensk. Berlin radio's commentator, Captain Sertorius, says the Russians may be concentrating troops in the Tula and Kaluga areas for defensive reasons, but probably the enemy intends to attack westward, hoping to unhinge the German positions round Smolensk. An alternative is an attack southward aimed at eliminating the German salient at Orel. The Russians in either direction, Sertorius says, will encounter German defences which they will not be able to overcome. The "Red Star" is carrying appeals to the Russians similar to those made during the Stalingrad fighting. "If the enemy attempts to advance, not one foot of ground should be yielded. Each village and each house must become a bastion of defence," the paper says. RUSSIANS ADVANCE. The Russians improved their positions when small-scale fighting flared up in the Kuban, says Reuters Moscow correspondent. The Russian military commentator, Colonel Vassiliev, declared that the Red Army has reached new German defence positions, from seven to 20 miles from Novorossisk, i The Red Army is at present bringing up heavy artillery to clear the way for infantry. The correspondent adds that the German counter-attacks northeast of Novorossisk have failed completely. The Moscow correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph agency reports that local initiative on the Taman Peninsula ha^s shifted back temporarily to the Germans, but without any change in positions. The Russians have maintained their hold on an important road which they intersected recently. The Germans in the Lisichansk bridgehead sector, according to Reuters Moscow correspondent, are exhausted by heavy losses and are now limiting their activity to almost continuous shelling aimed at hampering the Russians in their task of digging in and consolidating.