TIMOSHENKO’S DRIVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 May 1942, Page 5

TIMOSHENKO’S DRIVE

GERMANS TRY OFFENSIVE

RUSSIAN PRESSURE MAINTAINED

LONDON, May 20

To-day’s Soviet midday communique reports very briefly that offensive operations in the direction of Kharkov continued last night, and that there was intense fighting round Kerch, in the Crimea. There is no further mention of the German offensive between Izyum and Barvenkova, south-east of Kharkov, referred to in the Russian midnight dispatch. The Moscow radio has referred to this offensive as a new development. The Soviet midnight communique said :“On Tuesday on the Kharkov front our troops waged offensive battles and forged ahead, repulsing enemy counter-attacks. On the Izyum-Barvenkova front battles took place with the enemy, who had started an offensive.” Izyum is on the Donets River, 80 miles south-east of Kharkov, and Barvenkova is 30 miles south-west of Izyum. The German attack in this sector appears to be a blow aimed at the left flank of the Russian offensive against Kharkov. In London, Marshal von Bock’s offensive between Izyum and Barvenkova is seen as a threat to the flank and rear of Marshal Timoshenko s armies. Izyum is at the base of Ihe Russian bulge south of Kharkov, and the Germans are probably aiming at cutting behind the Russian left wing. Alternatively, the new German move may be an attempt to relieve the tremendous Russian pressure on Kharkov, on which all Marshal von Bock's advances communications pivot. Some Russian units are reported to be only eight miles from the centre of Kharkov.

All along the front the Russians are maintaining the pressure. Reuter’s special correspondent in Moscow says the Germans are still striking heavy blows with panzer units, but though they have slowed down the Russian advance they have failed to halt it. Messages from Moscow indicate that Marshal Timoshenko’s drive continues to widen and deepen the breach in the German defences in the Kharkov area. The Germans’ resistance appears to be stiffening, and they are said to be hurling an increasing number of tanks into the battle.

An especially fierce battle, it is stated, is raging for two vital highways where the Russians are pressing the Germans northwards and to the south-west. The Russians appear 1o be making considerable use of cavalry which, besides pursuing the retreating Germans and inflicting heavy casualties, captured a large settlement strongly held by the enemy. Later, the Rumanian 4th Division counter-attacked, but was repulsed. “Izvestia” says the Germans are attaching infantry-bearing vehicles to their tanks and towing them into battle, but such infantry have suffered heavy losses. Reports speak of severe fighting on the north-west front, where, following the Russian advance, the Germans arc trying desperately to wrest the initiative from the Red Army.

A Soviet Army commissar, in an article in “Red Star,” states that the Soviet Army has made all the necessary plans for the destruction of the Nazi forces in 1942. The Soviet Army, states the article, has so much material and men at its disposal that the German Army will never be able !o withstand the pressure. Stories told by both the Moscow and Oslo radios say that German troops are being nourished daily with powdered food in order, it is stated, to relieve supply routes. There are said to bo 140 different kinds of powder —tomato, spinach, cheese, marmalade, meat. etc. The soldiers find that the powder, mixed with a little water, makes a tasty and nourishing sandwich spread. RETREAT LOSSES. (Rec. 9.40 a.m.) LONDON, May 20. The Moscow radio states that the Germans on the Kharkov front are falling back on Bac.j with ever-grow-ing rapidity. The battle has moved into the heart of the German defences. The Russians are driving wedges into enemy positions at unexpected points. Debris of German planes, burnt out tanks, smashed guns, and wrecked lorries, mark the retreat of the enemy.

RUSSIAN PROGRESS

LONDON, May 20

The Moscow radio, quoting - a front line dispatch, says that the Russians continue to advance on the Kharkov front, smashing stubborn resistance. The Germans arc throwing in numerous tanks and motorised units. Russian artillery is shell- ' ing German infantry and tanks at point-blank range. The Red Air Force is hammering aerodromes and bombing troop concentrations. The Vichy radio says that a strong Russian armoured formation has succeeded in crossing the Udy river, south-west of Kharkov. The Germans had massed 100,000 parachutists, 10,000 tanks and 2.000,000 men behind the Kharkov front, and it was to destroy this concentration that Marshal Timoshenko attacked. PLANES DESTROY TANKS (Recd. 1.55 p.m.) LONDON, May 20. Spear-heads of Timoshenko’s forces are still heavily involved with stubborn German rearguards, seeking to cover the withdrawal of the mam forces to positions within the deep defence belt, says “The Times’s” Moscow correspondent. The stiffening German resistance i.s not checking the Russian advance. The Germans used emergency reserves in the vain effort to break the Russian air dominance. Three heavy Russian air attacks destroyed scores of tanks and opened a way for the Red Army’s advance. The ‘ German tanks are being attacked with planes, artillery, anti-tank rilles, petrol bombs and grenades. “The Times’s” Stockholm correspondent says the Russians are throwing in a great weight on the salient south of Kharkov, aiming to drive through the Lozovaya-Krasnograd sector. This drive is dangerous for the Axis, and also for the Russians. A few days will show who envelops whom, between Kharkov and the coast. The chances still appear to favour the Russians. The Berlin radio says that apparently designed to forestall the expected German drive to the Caucasus, the Russians launched heavy attacks near Taganrog, where fierce fighting is progressing. A large Russian force is fighting on near Yenikal, Kerch.

IN THE CRIMEA

LONDON, May 20. I Though the German High Command |j has claimed the complete occupation!: of the Kerch Peninsula, in the Crimea, it is clear from the latest Soviet communique that the Russians are still resisting round the town of Kerch, where they say fighting is continuing. It is nevertheless probably true that, the tremendous weight of the German l attack on the Kerch Peninsula has met j with certain success, and the Soviet troops in this area appear to be in a grave position. At the other end of the Crimea, however, Moscow reports say that the defenders of Sebastopol continue to '"take toll of the enemy by frequentraids against German positions and: enemy aerodromes. A message .from Berlin to Zurich,

states: The German advance in Kerch Peninsula, has been due, chiefly, to the use of a new fifteen centimetre motorised anti-tank' gun, and to a two-man anti-tank rifle. Both of these weapons are firing a new explosive.

LENINGRAD AREA.

(Rcc. 2 p.m.) LONDON, May 20. A Moscow dispatch says that the Russians • defeated repeated German attempts to regain the initiative in the Leningrad area. An enemy attack, yesterday, with, tanks and infantry, was repulsed with heavy losses. Because of the severe losses on the Kalinin front, the Germans are coun-ter-attacking only at night time. Thus far, all the attacks have been broken up. RUSSIA’S SUPER-TANK. (Rcc. 11.25 a.m.) STOCKHOLM, May 20. A message from Berlin states that the German public are greatly inipressed by the details of the Russian 52-ton tank, particulars of which are revealed in the Press. It is stated that a single tank would fill the ground floor of a small house, the gun turret reaching to the second storey. Its length is 23 feet, height 10 feet, breadth 11 i'eet. The thickness of the forward armour is four inches, and the side armour three inches, it carries a sixinch gun. and attains a maximum speed" of 16 miles per hour.

DUTCH VOLUNTEERS

LONDON, May 20.

The Paris radio stated: Eight hundred Dutch volunteers for the Russian front took the oath before Herr Heydrich and M. Messert. According to Swedish newspapers, the transportation of Dutchmen to Russia as permanent colonists, is now in full swing, says “The Times’s” Stockholm correspondent. The Germans have already taken one hundred thousand to White Russia, and intend to transport three million to farm the fertile occupied territories, promising the Dutch certain measures of eventual local self-government, under German control. EXECUTIONS AT MINSK "LONDON, May 20. A Stockholm message from Berlin states that the Germans executed 150 Russians who terrorised other Russians in the Minsk area for submitting to German domination.