OFFENSIVES IN RUSSIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 April 1943, Page 5

OFFENSIVES IN RUSSIA

GERMAN PLANS DISCUSSED

MOSCOW AS OBJECTIVE

RUGBY, April 6. During the present period of relative but obviously temporary stability'on the battlefronts, attention is inevitably turned to the prospects of the forthcoming campaigns. Press despatches from Moscow report the expectation of a renewed German offensive on a big scale in the near future, as soon as the' ground has dried enough in the centre. Persistent German efforts to gain positions across the upper Donetz may point to much bigger operations, while also probably dictated by the desire to prevent a renewal of the Russian initiative. Especially heavy German concentrations are' reported behind the front from Briansk to Byelgorod. • In this sector, the big German salient around Orel gives a valuable pivot for a large-scale drive south of Moscow, aimed at cutting the railways leading to the capital. Such operation might be preceded by an attempt to eliminate the Russian salient based on Kursk.

“The Times” points out that the Germans, by a series ol delaying actions, partly on the offensive and partly on the defensive, put off a decision in North Africa till the eve of the summer campaigning season in Russia, in which they triist that the great superiority of Russian fighting men in Winter warfare will be a thing of the past. As for a German offensive, “The Times” says military considerations suggest it may be more limited than last year, and also in some degree directed against a region such as Moscow, where it left complete devastation narrower than in the south. “The Times” concludes: Since simultaneous Allied major offensives are at present an impossibility, the most urgent need is to strike Germany the heaviest possible blows, and thus afford the greatest measure of aid to Russia. ’ Russia is Germany’s most formidable foe on land, as the combined forces of Britain and the United States are at sea, and in the air. To that purpose we have to harness our energies while containing our foes elsewhere, and when the opportunity affords, striking back at them. Such is the programme laid down by the Prime Minister. It is also that on which the mind of the nation is set. Obvious needs which stand out are to fight the U-boats with all our skill, and resolution, and to drive the Axis forces from Tunisia into the sea as soon as possible." .

DONETZ AREA

(Recd. 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, April 6. A vast movement of men and material is proceeding along the 1200mile front as the Russian and German forces prepare lor the next stage of the conflict. Meantime, hard fighting is reported only from the Donetz and Kuban sectors. , Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the Germans are seriously worried about the Russian bridgehead on the west bank of the Donetz, south of Izvum. the continued existence of which renders the German position at Kharkov insecure. Consequently, bitter fighting is going on there daily, with the Germans bringing up more planes, tanks and men. A small number of Germans penetrated the Soviet fine yesterday, but were wiped out in hand-to-hand fighting. The Germans are unlikely. to have forgotten that the Russians’ grim retention of Ihe bridgeheads at Voronezh last year provided the Red Army with jump-ing-off places for their great offensive. , Berlin radio mentioned lighting in the Middle Donetz area, north of Balakleya, which is 30 miles northwest of Izyum. The radio said the Germans stormed a strategically important locality and reached the Donetz on a five-mile front. Reports from the Kuban indicate that after several days of better weather heavy rain is now hampering the movements of General Maslennikov’s forces. He is using the interval to pound the German defence lines with artillery. Meanwhile, Russian Stormoviks are bombing roads and shipping in Kerch Straits. “The Times’s” Stockholm correspondent says General Maslennikov is using large forces —the Germans say several divisions —against the Krymskaya sector. This is apparently what the Russians mean in stating that their artillery is shelling a big centre of resistance.

IN THE NORTH

Berlin radio's announcement yesterday that the Germans at Starayarussa" had “carried out a successful withdrawal to new positions” is interpreted bv Moscow correspondents to mean that Marshal Timoshenko has thrown the Germans out of the town. Moscow has not officially claimed its capture. Correspondents say that capture of this strongly fortified base may open the way for a Russian drive through the Baltic States north-east to the Baltic Sea qnd that the German armies still in the Leningrad area may be forced to withdraw 7 west to avoid being cut off.

AERIAL LOSSES

LONDON, April 6

Moscow radio stated: Forty-two German bombers were destroyed in attempts to raid Leningrad on April 3 and 4. Only single enemy planes penetrated to the city. They dropped bombs haphazardly, causing insignificant damage. Seven Russian fighters were lost.

WOMAN SNIPER

RUGBY, April 6

A Russian communique describes further fighting south of Izyum, and the repulse of German infantry, tank and air attacks. South of Lake Ilmen, the Russians dislodged the Germans from several fortified positions. Tn* one sector he r e, snipers wiped out 93 Germans in the past few days. A woman sniper. Nina Smetanina. accounted tor 17.

GERMAN ATROCITIES

LONDON, April 6

The Moscow radio broadcast a statement from a special commission investigating German atrocities and vandalism in Soviet territory, which accuses the Nazis of ruthlessly de■stroying Soviet towns and villages, .and torturing, outraging, and murdering peaceful citizens. “History has known no such wholesale extermination of a people,” says the statement, which mentions particularly German barbarities in the regions of Vyazma, Gzhatsk, and Rzhev, where, on the orders of the German generals, Heinritz and Model, Soviet citizens, including women and children and aged people, had their eyes burned out and their feet, hands, and ears cut off. The statement cites numerous instances of citizens being shot in batches after being forced to dig their own graves. In two villages in the Gzhatsk district all the inhabitants, including small children, were burned alive. Soviet war prisoners were deliberately refused medical assistance, and some were used as targets during firing practice. -Hitler’s army tortures or kills all those it does not want, while those capable of working are carried away like cattle to GerImany.”