REPLY TO TANKS

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

REPLY TO TANKS

ARTILLERY'S ROLE RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE PANZERS LOSE POWER (By Telegraph—Precs Assn.—Copyright.) (2 p.m.) LONDON. June 28. . In an interview, Marshal Timoshenko said that artillery was destined to play a decisive role in tfte crushing of the panzers. The defence o£ Sebastopol, he said, was the most vivid example of how the Russians were robbing enemy tanks of their terrific offensive power. In launching their current offensive, the Germans had tried to crush the defences by a simultaneous drive by masses of tanks from several directions, blit the Soviet artillery alone had destroyed 140 tanks. Soviet guns had repelled the first attempts to the storm the heights. Using roads in the valleys, (hey found themselves everywhere under fire from three sides. The Soviet Army paper. Red Star.describes how all calibres of artillery arc fighting tanks at usually from 500 to (100 yards range. The enemy tanks were forced to accept the challenge of the batteries and break up their formations to hunt for them. This is what the Russians wanted. “During the past few days enemy tank tactics have been changed and they have tried to jump through the wail of fire and thus force the batteries to drop back but the Soviet guns from depth defences went into action. Some enemy tanks broke through, but were dealt with by the infantry with anti-tank rifles and hand* grenades. The result is that enemy tanks, even when attacking in groups, are now keeping COO to 700 yards from the batteries and are serving mainly as mobile artillery behind charging infantry which are suffering the heaviest losses,” adds the newspaper.