COSTLY GAINS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20826, 3 July 1942, Page 3

COSTLY GAINS

NAZIS IN_ RUSSIA NEW OFFENSIVES SANGUINARY FIGHTING GREAT TANK BATTLES (By Telegraph— Press Assn.—Copyright.) (11.30 a.m.) LONDON, July 2, A Moscow communique states: “Our .troops all night long fought engagements in the Kursk and Sebastopol areas. Seven thousand Germans were killed and 39 tanks and armoured cars destroyed in .two days’ fighting on the Kursk front. “Yesterday, on the Kursk front, our .troops repelled enemy attacks. On several sectors of the front great tank battles took place. The enemy suffered heavy losses of men and material. On the Sebastopol front, the enemy, at the price of enormous losses, made progress. Fierce hand-to-hand fighting took place. On .the other sectors, there were no important changes.” The Moscow radio said that the Sebastopol fighting was growing fiercer. The Germans, with .the object of creating an impression of encirclement, were infiltrating .the Russian lines, but were being beaten back. The Germans were suffering colossal losses and were throwing in further reserves .to support the ceaseless attacks against the fortifications. The Germans have made some advance in the main sector of fighting at Kursk, according .to a Moscow message, and are bringing up reserves in order to develop the success and protect their flanks, but the Russians have checked the enemy from new positions and inflicted heavy losses. Resistance Strengthening The Izvestia says .that thousands of German corpses litter the Kursk battlefield after sanguinary fighting throughout the night. The tank battle here is assuming greater ferocity. Soviet resistance is daily strengthening. The Red Star yesterday for the first time reported a German attempt to launch a new offensive near Gjatsk. The Germans broke several months of silence at this advanced point to Moscow with a 40-minute barrage from 120 big guns, after which the infantry attacked on several sectors Russian artillery and machine-gun fire repulsed the enemy on one sector, but on another, where the Seventh German Infantry Division was thrown in, the enemy made a breach two miles deep and one mile wide. They were, however, thrown back, leaving 2500 bodies, while shelling and bombs caused many more casualties in the near. The Russians after .the battle held their original positions. The Kursk bottle, which the Germans resumed on Monday, raged throughout Tuesday and yesterday. No territoral gains are yet reported beyond the initial inevitable indentation of the first heavy impact. The Russians appear to be absorbing the shock successfully and inflicting enormous losses. Both sides have huge forces accumulated north and south of the Kursk-Voronej _ railway, with apparently inexhaustible material handy for a long-pitched battle. German reticence about this sector follows the usual practice of silence during the early stages of majoi operations. “Full-Scale Offensive” 'The , special Berlin announcement claiming the fall of Sebastopol at noon yesterday states that German and Rumanian troops, under the command of General Mannstem, strongly supported by the well-tried close-range flying corps of Colonel General Richtofen, overcame the world’s strongest land naval fortress after fierce fighting for 25 days. The number of prisoners and war material captured cannot yet be estimated. The remnants of the defeated Sebastopol army fled to the Khersones Peninsula. The Berlin radio reported that Herr Hitler had promoted General Mannstein to field marshal and ordered a special medal for all who fought in the Crimea. The Ankara radio said that a message from Berlin officially stated that a full-scale offensive had started on the Russian front. The Oslo radio reported from Berlin that the second major phase ol the eastern campaign had begun the moment the commanders of the army groups, including Sebastopol, reported the clearing up of the front line. This had been under way since the spring. Each army had then taken up the position allotted to it for launching an attack.