MAJOR OR LIMITED?

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21141, 8 July 1943, Page 3

MAJOR OR LIMITED?

AXIS OFFENSIVE

LONDON SPECULATION

HITLER'S HAND FORCED

(By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Corresiiomlent.) (11 a.m.) LONDON. July 7

Considerable interest is taken in the renewed lighting on the Russian front and there is much speculation. Both Berlin and Rome broadcast denials that the Germans are engaged in a major offensive and the question is being asked: Why, then, is Germany attacking? One view is that Hitler must attack as it, is his one remaining chance of winning tile war: that he delayed attack, not because ho wanted to, but because much reorganisation was required after the Russians' winter drive: that the Italian. Hungarian and Rumanian troops, which held 70 per cent, of the front where the attack is now occurring, were driven from the battlefield and have not returned, had to be replaced with Germans, and that the Royal Air Force bombing of the Ruhr interrupted the flow of munitions.

It is suggested that the coming week will tell whether this is a major offensive or a limited one with the objective of straightening the OrelByelgorod salient and establishing a “holding offensive" to anticipate any Russian designs for an offensive timed to coincide with a major Ailed invasion attempt. Luftwaffe Transferred Another view is that Hitler had to take the initiative, which is necessarily limited, for the Axis has not the forces for the unlimited and vastly ambitious enveloping movements of the last two years. The opinion is expressed that the governing factor is the German lack of air-power, without which no mechanised army can achieve decisive results. It is reported that the German air support in the present offensive seems to have been on a comparatively small scale. The Berlin correspondent of the German - controlled Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau reports that Air Marshal Von Richthofen and crack squadrons have been transferred from the Russian front for the defence of Sicily. Over 100 Axis fighters—double the number previously employed —met 30 Flying Fortresses attacking . the Gerbini airfield on Monday, when 30 Axis fighters were shot down. The opinion is voiced that a serious problem faces Marshal Richthofen, for Axis losses total 89 fighters in two days, and that the presence of Marshal ‘Richthofen in Italy is significant, since throughout the war he has always been present where the Germans expected or prepared for a major conflict. It is interesting that Marshal Richthofen and .his squadrons should be transferred from the Russian front just before the fighting there.

The Germans are using great strength ih the air for the mastery of the Russian front, for which two forces are contending in what, according to one message, is becoming one of the world’s greatest air battles. The Russians are said to be more than than holding their own. Old Tank Tactics

Although the Germans are clinging to the old tactics of tank warfare, they are continually changing their methods of aerial fighting and two days of battle disclosed new variations. states an agency correspondent. Unlike most previous attacks, this onslaught has not been preceded by intensive bombing over several days of Russian airfields and communications, with the usual climax of an air bombardment of the troops themselves. Perhaps the Germans omitted such aerial preparations in the hope of achieving a surprise. If so, they failed —on the first day and again on the second day, when they changed the direction of their blow. Not only was the Soviet artillery equal to the occasion, but the skill and daring of the Red sappers in setting up minefields spelled the doom of many enemy tanks. The strength of the Luftwaffe is being exerted chiefly in large groups in the hope that a strong bomber formation with an escort of Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs by their concentrated fire-power will be able to beat off the opposition. But the Soviet fighters took the initiative from the Luftwaffe, broke up the formatiorc, and forced the Germans to accept many dog-fights simultaneously. Another change of tactics is the abandonment by the Germans of the attempt to block Soviet aerodromes and chase Soviet fighters from the skies over the sectors of the most violent fighting. Most of the enemy fighters are protecting bombers attempting to drop bomb-loads from the lowest levels in order to blast the Soviet infantry from the trenches. This manouevre was met by rifle, machine-gun, and artillery fire from the ground, directed against the bombers, which proved a great help to the Soviet fighters.