SECRET PANZERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21605, 6 January 1945, Page 3

SECRET PANZERS

SHELTERED MOVE BUDAPEST COUNTER “NOW OR NEVER” EFFORT (10 n.m.) LONDON, Jan. 5. “The great battle between the German relief forces and Marshal Tolbukhin's troops north-west of Budapest has reached its tensest stage,” reports Reuter's Moscow correspondent. “The battle went on throughout last night on a counter-offensive scale. It is now or never for this mighty German Panzer army which was secretly passed behind the Austrian frontier after the central Hungarian front had almost collapsed.” Russian planes arc making virtully non-stop strafing attacks on the German infantry and armour northwest of Budapest, says the Moscow radio. The enemy persists to launchbig successive counter-attacks, but black clouds of smoke from burning German tanks bear witness to the effectiveness of the Russian Storm-

The Germans inside Budapest continue to make furious counter-attacks, but these are being beaten off with huge losses to the enemy. German Panzers battering the Russian lines north-west of Budapest are believed to have gained some ground in the past 24 hours, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The Red Army forces are hanging on grimly ns th" Wehrmacht hurricane rises to its full force.