BY THE RUSSIANS

Grey River Argus, 10 February 1942, Page 5

BY THE RUSSIANS

Progress in Other Sectors

[Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Rec. 10.0). LONDON, February 9. The “Daily Express’’ Stockholm correspondent says: Russian forces have occupied eastern suburbs of Rjev. The Germans there are now putting up a' hopeless resistance from the city’s bigger buildings. In these they are barricaded. The Rjev garrison consists of one badlymauled infantry division without any panzer support. German mechanised ( forces were withdrawn when a Rus- 1 sian encirclement was being completed. Russian forces have occupied Tronsa, 42 miles southwest of Orel. The Kuibyshev radio stated that. Russian guerrillas banded together and captured .a large island in a Karelian lake, and almost wiped out six Finnish garrisons, and captured considerable booty. LONDON, February 8Russian cavalry, striking from the rear, broke, the German ring around Leningrad, after which Russian infantry and artillery followed, The “Red Star” says they caused havoc to German communications, followed by panic. The Russians .liberated village after village, and frustrated mar;' enemy efforts to counter-attack. The Russians keep widening the gap, and reserves from other parts .of Russia are being rushed to Leningrad. The Moscow radio announced that the Russians are relentlessly advancing on the south-western front. After the failure of strong German counter-attacks, the Russians broke through their lines, and captured a large inhabited locality, in which many Germans were killed. , Captain Rudolf Rundental, commander of the First Battalion of the 81st. German Infantry Division, and Lieutenant Heinrich Gunther, of the same regiment, surrendered to the Russians. They said that, on December 24, their regiment was still in France, but! at th e beginning or January it was sent to the RussianGerman front. They received an order on January 10 to throw the Rus- ; sians from Peno, but after three | days the regiment was completely , routed, and the commander, Colonel Rochmeier, was killed. A group of officers and men, under Rundental, wandered in the woods for five days, while a group of 50, under Gunther, Lost several men from wounds, ex-, haustion, and cold. Rundental said: “A specially depression impression was produced on our soldiers by the sight of remnants of a Storm Trooper reconnaissance battalion retreating from Peno. None could have imagined that a German military unit could run in such panic, but two days later the same fate awaited us.” t Russian forces, strengthened _by new reserve,?■ and using their heaviest tanks, have launched a new and vigorous drive against the Germans round Leningrad. The enemy ring round the city is (thinning down daily. The Germans have lost 1,500 killed in one battle.

As a result of fierce attacks on the central front, the Russians have again forced the Germans to retreat, savs the Moscow radio. Cavalry dislodged the Germans from six localities, and inflicted heavy casualties. The Russian Air Force is more intensively bombing and dive-bombing th e retreating German forces, and is also attacking aerodromes. A Russian communique states: Our troops, -esterday, continued offensive operations, and occupied several localities. In a number of sectors, the enemv launched counterattacks which were repulsed with losses to '.the enemy. Twenty-one German planes were destroyed on February 6, for the loss of seven Russian planes. On February 5, 46 German planes were destroyed. ■; A Moscow message states: In the Ukraine, the retreating enemy has continued to lose men, including a battalion of ski troops. , RUGBY, February 8.

An order for the Third German Tank Group, which has fallen into Russian hands, states that civilians must be forced to do heavy work, without payment. This peculiarly German press-gang policy is also regarded as a kind of revenge for acts .of sabotage, boltih past and future. The latest Russian communique, which gives this information, has nothing to say of the fighting, except that offensive operations against the Germans continued last night. MORE PLACES OCCUPIED BY RUSSIANS (Rec. 10.40) LONDON, Feb. 9. A Soviet communique states: Our troops, breaking the enemy’s resistance and repelling his counterattacks, continued offensive operations and occupied several places. On Saturday seventeen German aircraft were destroyed. We lost twelve.