FIGHTING IN CAUCASUS

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 April 1943, Page 5

FIGHTING IN CAUCASUS

FURTHER RUSSIAN GAINS

OTHER FRONTS QUIET

LONDON. April 2

The Spring lull continues along the Russian front, except in the Kuban area of the Caucasus, where according to to-day’s Moscow communique, Soviet troops continued offensive battles and occupied three more villages. The communique reports no materia] changes in any other part of the front. On the middle Donetz there were exchanges of artillery and machine-gun fire. Russian artillery silenced six German batteries and blew up a dump. The Russians report the repulse of a German thrust in the Sievsk area, south of Bryansk. On the Smolensk front they are consolidating their positions and continuing patrol activity. The British United Press says that as a result of the loss of thousands of men and hundreds of tanks in fruitless attacks in the last fortnight, German units shattered in the Donetz fighting are being sent to the rear for a rest and regrouping, which is contributing to the decline in the intensity of the fighting.

RELATIONS WITH VATICAN

NEW YORK. April 2

The North American Newspaper Alliance says that the editor of the Catholic weekly paper. “Commonweal” (Mr. Michael Williams), who was scheduled to accompany Archbishop Spellman on his visit to Spain and’ Italy, will shortly tour Russia, China, and India. It says ecclesiastical circles in Washington consider that Archbishop Spellman intends to accomplish a treaty between the Vatican and the Kremlin, effecting a working settlement of Russian Catholic religious relations, which has been a long-cherished policy of the Vatican.