STEADY BATTERING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20744, 20 April 1942, Page 3

STEADY BATTERING

GERMAN DEFENCES MORE RED SUCCESSES HEAVY NAZI AIR LOSSES t- ■ (By Telegraph —Press Assn.—Copyright-.) (11 a.m.) LONDON. April 19. The Moscow radio reports that the Russians are capturing one fortress after another in the Demidovo sector. 18 miles north-west of Smolensk. Three German divisions have been beaten back with heavy losses in these operations. A supplement to yesterday’s Russian communique, which merely stated that no substantial change occurred on the. front, says that in one sector on the Kalinin front during a single day the Russians destroyed 35 block-houses and dug-outs and a great number of enemy weapons. In the rear of the enemy, two ammunition dumps were bLown up. The enemy lost in killed 700 officers arid men. ......

Messages from Kuibyshev say ’ the Red Army smashed the enemy defences on the Karelian front, penetrating several miles and capturing a number of settlements. The Red Army has continued to advance despite fierce and frequent counter-attacks. J Five German generals are among 11,000 soldiers killed by Russian guerrillas in the Smolensk-'region in the past nine months, states the Moscow radio. These guerrillas, co-operating with the Red Army.ihdve liberated completely or partially 20 districts. Reserves Thrown in The present operations on the Russian front are described in a Kuibyshev message as a sustained battering of the enemy defences by the Red Army, with the Germans vainly trying to stem the avalanche by throwing in reserves. The Eighth German Artillery Regiment, fighting as infantry, lost 360 out of 400 in the past three days of fighting. Guerrillas on the Leningrad front reported a concentration of German planes on a German aerodrome, says a Moscow report. After Russian reconnaissance planes had confirmed that 40 bombers and several fighters were on the runway, Russian planes attacked suddenly and destroyed 12 and damaged 10 German planes. Two Messerschmitts took off to attempt' to stem the attack, -but both were shot down. The Russians imprisoned a German pilot named Wegner, who was reputed to be responsible for the bombing of Buckingham Palace. Russian fighters shot down seven bombers and eight fighters which were attempting to raid Murmansk, and damaged 12 other planes. The 8.8. C. European service- announced that General von Leeb had been relieved of his command. His successor is General von Kuschler, hitherto commander of the Eighteenth German Army. The Norwegian Telegraph Agency says that 70 Russian bombers heavily attacked the German garrison at Vardo, in Norway, killing at least 200.