RAILWAY CUT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21152, 21 July 1943, Page 3

RAILWAY CUT

OREL ANDBRYANSK soviet Advance CITY IN GUN RANGE NAZIS MAY~BE RINGED (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) <lO a.m.) LONDON, July 20. Driving from the north-west of Orel, one Russian spearhead captured the town of Ilinskoe, seven miles north of the Orel-Bryansk railway, states Reuter’s correspondent in Mossow. This spearhead is now north of Khotynets, a key station astride the Orel-Bryansk railway. The capture of Ilinskoe and the extension of the Russian grip on the territory east of ihe river between Khotynets and Karachev, including the capture of four townships, has considerably widened the Russian wedge northwest of Orel. The German setbacks in Russia are being explained in Berlin, according to Reuter's correspondent in Zurich, us being due to the Russians’ vast numerical superiority. The Swiss newspaper Die,Tat quotes a German front-line reporter, who declared: “During the period since last week I have seen more men die than sleep." The British United Press’ correspondent in Moscow says that the Russian spearhead, operating in conjunction with that which captured Ilinskoe, reached Moilovo, half-way between Bryansk and Sukhinichi. The Russians south of Orel have reached a point where they hold the city within range of heavy guns. The latest front-line reports indicate a big Russian flanking .movement from the north with a direct attack from the south and from the east. The Russian plan obviously is the encirclement of Orel and also cutting the Bryansk - Sukhinichi-Moscow railway. The width of the Russian flank threatening the Orel-Bryansk line and the Bryansk-Sukhinichi line is about 35 miles. Biggest Battle of War

It is now possible to give more precise details of the Russian offensive against the great bastion which the Germans have built round Orel during the past year and a half. North-west of Orel the Russians are advancing on a 40-mile front between Bolkhov and tlie Bryansk-Sukhinichi railway and are 34 miles from the city. The second Russian thrust against the point of the German salient is 19 miles east of Orel and the third attack is from the south where the Russians have regained the ground they recently lost to the Germans and arcnow 38 miles from Orel. North-easi of Karachev, the Russians are only a dozen miles from the Bryansk-Ore) railway. The Moscow radio commentator. Colonel Vasiliev, summing up the fortnight’s battle for the Kursk bulge, said the battle undoubtedly was one of the biggest of the war. The Germans in their attack from July 5 to 16 suffered unprecedented losses as a result of which they were not only unable to carry through their plans, but quickly shot their bolt. They were obliged to rush reinforcements from other area sand also from Germany itself.

In the fortnight’s fighting the German Army lost more than 3000 tanks, over 2000 planes, and tens *of thousands of men killed or taken prisoners. The enemy not only failed to realise the High Command’s plan of operations, but also had to relinquish part of the minor territorial gains ho secured in the first week of the battle A Russian communique states thai. the Germans launched several fierce counter-attacks north-east of Novorossisk in another attempt to recapture the height they lost last Sunday. All the attacks- were repulsed and heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy. The communique also mentions minor activity on the Kalinin and Leningrad fronts.