HEAVIER ATTACKS

Grey River Argus, 17 March 1942, Page 5

HEAVIER ATTACKS

BY THE RUSSIANS

In Centre and South

[Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.]

LONDON, March 15. A Soviet communique stated no change of any significance took place on the various fronts through Satuxdav ni°ht. “The 0 Times’s” Stockholm correspondent says: Marshal Timoshenko is throwing a heavier weight than ever into tne offensive below Kharkov "The German spokesman admitted that the German positions in the Donetz basin were hard pressed. Moscow “Red Star” says: lhe hour of Kharkov’s liberation is at hand. Guerrillas within Kharkov are almost daily blowing up the German military quarters. In January, they blew up the headquarters of the Sixty-Eighth Division, killing all the staff officers, including the Commander, Braun. A Ukrainian girl shot another General as he walked to his car. A German guardsman executed the girl on the spot. Soon after the occupation of Kharkov, the Germans executed 14,000 civilians. The basement of the hotel Internationale was converted into death.cells and execution chambers. Twelve hundred Russians are at present in the cells awaiting execution! Over 100 Russians were hanged in the streets. Disease and starvation are rampant and the dead are daily picked up in the streets. German-controlled Calais radio said that a battle was being waged along the whole of the Kerch Peninsula. A Russian «offensive began at 7 a.m. on Friday. The Russians were said to be using five divisions, supported by heavy tanks and waves of aircraft.

The Germans claim that they are maintaining their positions in the Taganrog area against heavy Russian attacks. The German tone is less confident about developments north-west of Stalino. Berlin’s reticence suggests that Timoshenko’s battering ram is regaining territory. Berlin admits Timoshenko massed a formidable army, also that the Russians are at present showing a. strong aggressive spirit and are attacking in wave after wave.

The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” states that the 16th. Army’s living space is continually diminishing. Less has been heard in the last few days of operations by German aeroplanes at Staraya-Russa, where the Russians have apparently gained aix* superiority, as Russian dive-bombers are now reported to be active against the congested masses of German troops. The Red Army is also successfully aiding the Russian artillery to redxice German strong points.' The Russians have made appreciable territorial gains around Dorogobuzn, where they at present seem, to be advancing on a broad front. Moscow radio said on Friday that the Germans had lost three battalions of infantry in fierce fighting which was proceeding for a key road on the central front. The Russians on Thursday repulsed a strong German counter-attack and were making a bid to cut into the German lines.

(Rec. 8.40) LONDON, March 16. The “Daily Telegraph's” Stockholm correspondent says: Russian forces are steadily tightening the encirclement of Orel. Heavy fighting is proceeding at Khotynftsaiso and Olshanks, twelve miles south-westwards of Orel is defended by a miniature Siegfried Line of blockhouses, minefields, tank-traps and wire entanglements surrounding the outlying villages. The city is stocked with masses of supplies, enabling it to withstand a long siege. Powerful Russian infantry and tank forces are striking heavily against Taganrog from the north-east, after a prolonged artillery bombardment. Russian ski troops are also attacking Taganrog across the frozen Azov Sea. The Stockholm “Dagensnyheter’s” Berlin correspondent stated that a most violent battle was proceeding along a line between Rjev and Byeloi, through which Russians were iattempting to break to reach the Viazma-S'molensk railway. Russian forces passed Elnia and occupied Levikono and Glinka', respectively five and eleven miles from Elnia on the Smolensk highway. A Moscow message reports: A crack “Berlin Bear” regiment of the 257th Division was routed on the southern front when Russians re-occupied a big village. Among prisoners taken were some recently arrived from Germany, who stated Berlin was filled with wounded. Moscow radio says: Russia has built up a tank force equal to anything that the Germans can throw into their spring compaign. The spring is near. The Red Army is ready to deal still heavier blows against the enemy.

A Kuibyshev message states: Five men have been sentenced to death, and eight others have been sent to prison for ten years for pillaging Soc’alist property.

GERMAN FORTIFICATIONS BROKEN. FBritish Official Wireless] (Rec. 11.20) RUGBY, March lb. Reports from Moscow state the situation of the trapped German Sixteenth Army is critical with Russians capturing village after village, and narrowing the noose. More instances of surrender are reported in despatches from the front, while at other points the enemy’s resistance is becoming ever more desperate (Roc L2D MOSCOW, March 15. The Russians are reported to have broken through the German fortification‘s in the Orek-Kursk-Kharkov zone, recapturing several populated places The advance is continuing in th e face of stubborn resistance.

No Changes

ON EASTERN FRONT.

[Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.J

(Rec. 1.30). LONDON, March 16. During last night no material changes occurred on the Eastern Front, says a Moscow communique. Eight hundred Germans were killed in two days’ fighting on various sectors on the Leningrad front.