1,000 SQUARE MILES OCCUPIED

Evening Star, Issue 24919, 17 July 1943, Page 5

1,000 SQUARE MILES OCCUPIED

RUBSIAN ARTILLERY SUPERIOR LONDON, July 15. The British United Press military writer says the new Russian blow will have brought the (Red army within striking distance of tho mam northsouth railway from Smolensk through Bryansk and Kharkov. In two areas in which the Russians advanced they in three days occupied over 1,000 square miles. It is not likely that any German position would be defended in depth to as much as 12 to 18 miles, which is the extent of the Russian advance east and north of Orel. t The advance east from Orel may have brought tho Russians to tbp outskirts of Orel itself. North of Orel they are now within 20 miles of Bryansk. . Russian troops are developing their initiative, and are slowly but steadily pushing the Germans out of the territory thev lost in the Bvelgorod area in the first push of tho German offensive. The Stockholm correspondent of ' The Times' says that German messages from the front emphasise the terrible weight of the Russian artillery fire in the Orel sector. One report ; admits that the Russians are superior in artillery and have apparently inexhaustible supplies of ammunition for guns of every calibre, including an astonishing number of the heaviest typo. Another report says a new type of gun which is not known to the German army has been in action on the Orel front, with great effect.