GROUND REGAINED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20822, 29 June 1942, Page 4

GROUND REGAINED

SOVIET COUNTERS SEBASTOPOL ATTACK FRESH NAZI RESERVES (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) (2 p.m.) RUGBY. June 28. Moscow press messages report that the Russians counter-attacked at several places on the Kharkov front and regained ground. In other places they repulsed violent German tank attacks. It is said that the Germans have been halted along the entire front. Marshal Timoshenko is holding the German drive eastwards of Kupyansk, says the Moscow message. The Russians are counter-attacking in some sectors. The Red Star reports that the Germans on the Kharkov front three times attempted to cross an unnamed river and capture a railway station, but were driven back and lost heavily and are now on the defensive. The Germans in another sector lost 30 tanks in an attack and also about 850 men. Attacks on other sectors were also checked. The Germans have been forced to bring up fresh reserves at Sebastopol. Five new infantry divisions were spotted going into action in the past three days. The Germans have made little progress in the past 24 hours. The Luftwalfe has resumed its mass raids against Sebastopol city. The Red Star says that the defenders of Sebastopol, in beating off simultaneous attacks aimed at reaching the northern and southern bays of the port destroyed 140 German tanks. A German communique claims that the Germans and Rumanians have thrown the Russians out of several strongly-fortified heights before Sebastopol and forced them to abandon an important defensive sector. It adds that the encircled Russian force m the Volkhov sector is at the point oi annihilation. The Vichy radio stated that the Gei - man commander-in-chief in Finland, General Dietl, has launched an ofiensive against Murmansk.