VAST ACTIVITY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21064, 8 April 1943, Page 3

VAST ACTIVITY

FRONT clash Tending GERMANS WORRIED KHARKOV NOT SECURE (By TulfKi'iiph---Press A«wn.— Copyright > LONDON, April t>. A vast movement of men and material is proceeding along the 1200mile front as the Russian and German forces prepare for the next stage of the eonltici. In the meantime, hard lighting is reported only from the Donetz and Kuban sectors. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the Germans are seriously worried about the Russian bridgehead on the west bank of the Donetz south of Izyum, the existence of which renders the German position at Kharkov insecure. Consequently, bitter lighting is going on there daily, the Germans bringing up more planes, tanks, and men. A small number of Germans penetrated the Soviet line yesterday, but were wiped out in hand-to-hand lighting. The Germans are unlikely to have forgotten that the Russians’ grim retention of bridgeheads at Voronej last year provided the Red Army with jumping oil' places l’or the great offensive.

The 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 live-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 the Kerch Straits. The Times’ Stockholm correspondent says that General Maslennikov is using large forces —the Germans say several divisions —against the Krymskaya sector. This apparently is what the Russians mean itt staling that their artillery is shelling a big centre of resistance. The Berlin radio’s announcement yesterday that the Germans at Staraya Russa “carried out a successful withdrawal to new positions,” is interpreted by Moscow correspondents to mean that Marshal Timoshenka has thrown the Germans out of the town. Moscow has not officially claimed its capture. Correspondents say that the capture of this strongly-fortified base may open the way for a Russian drive through the Baltic States northeast to the Baltic Sea. The German armies still in the Leningrad area may be forced to withdraw west to avoid being cut off. 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. On one sector here snipers wiped out 93 Germans in the past few days. A woman sniper, Nina Smetanina, accounted for 17.