KHARKOV BATTLES

Grey River Argus, 22 May 1942, Page 5

KHARKOV BATTLES

RUSSIAN ADVANCE Meets Greater Resistance [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.} LONDON, May 20. A Soviet communique on Wednesday said: On Tuesday night operations in the direction of Kharkov continued. Earlier Russian troops waged offensive battles and forged ahead, repulsing the enemy. Germans are falling back on Bacj with ever-growing rapidity. The battle has moved into the heart of the German defences. Russians are driving wedges into enemy, positions at unexpected points. Debris of German planes, burnt out tanks, smashed guns, and wrecked lorries, mark the retreat of the enemy. . Messages from Moscow indicate that Marshal \ Timoshenko’s drive continues to widen and deepen the breach in the German defences in the Kharkov area “The Times” Moscow correspondent said: Spear-heads of Timoshenko’s forces pre still heavily involved with stubborn German rearguards, seeking to cover the withdrawal of the main forces to positions within the deep defence belt. Three heaw Russian air attacks destroyed scores of tanks and opened a way for the Red Army’s advance. The German tanks are being attacked with planes, artillery, anti-tank rifles, petrol bombs and grenades. “The Times’s” Stockholm correspondent says the Russians are throwing in a great iweight on the salient south of Kharkov, aiming to drive through the Lozovaya-Krasnograd sector. This drive is dangerous for the Axis, and also for the Russians. A few days will show who envelops whom, between Kharkov and the coast. The chances still appear to favour th e Russians. - An especially fierce battle, it is stated, is raging for two vital highways where the Russians are pressing the Germans northwards and to the south-west. The Russians appear to be making considerable use of cavalry which, besides pursuing th? retreating Germans and inflicting heavy casualties, captured a large settlement strongly, held by the enemy. Later, the Roumanian 4tb Division counter-attacked, but was repulsed. It is reported from Stockholm that a Berlin message stated the German public are greatly impressed by the details of a Russian 52-ton tank, particulars of which are revealed in the Press. It is stated a single, tank would fill the ground floor of a small house, the gun turret reaching to the second storey. Its length is 23 feet, height 10 feet, breadth 11 feet. The thickness of the forward armour is four inches, and the side armour three inches. It carries a six-inch gun. It attains a maximum speed of 16 miles per hour.

German Resistance

ON THE INCREASE.

LONDON, May 20. A Soviet communique stated: “Enemy counter attacks were repulsed on Kharkov front. ' On the Izyum-Barvenkova front battles took place with the enemy, who' had started an offensive.” Izyum is on the Donets River, 80 miles south-east of Kharkov, and Barvenkova is 30 miles south-west of Izyum., The German attack in this sector appears to be a blow aimed at the left flank of the Russian offensive against Kharkov.

There is no’ further mention of the German offensive between Izyum and Barvenkova, south-east of Kharkov, referred to in the Russian dispatch. The Moscow radio refers to this offensive as a new development. “The Times’s” Moscow correspondent says: The stiffening German resistance is not checking the Russian advance. The Germans used emergency reserves in the vain effort to break the Russian air dominance. Reuter’s special correspondent in Moscow says the Germans are still striking heavy blows with panzer units, but though they have slowed down the Russian advance they have failed to halt it. "Izvestia” says the Germans are attaching infantry-bearing vehicles to their tanks and towing them into battle, but such infantry have suffered heavy losses The Germans’ resistance appears to be stiffening, and they are said to bo hurling back an increasing number of tanks into the battle.

German Object in Kerch

LONDON, May 20.

A Soviet communique said that there had been intense fighting round Kerch, Eastern Crimea. A large Russian force is fighting on near Yenikal, Kerch. The Berlin radio says that apparently designed to forestall the expected German drive to • the’Caucasus, the Russians launched heavy attacks near Taganrog, where fierce fighting is progressing. NORTHERN FRONTS LONDON, May 20. A Moscow dispatch says Russians defeated repeated German attempts to regain the initiative in the Leningrad area. An enemy- attack, yesterday, with tanks and infantry, was repulsed with heavy losses. Because of the severe losses on the Kalinin front the Germans are count-er-attacking only at night time. Thus far, all the attacks have been broken up. Reports speak of severe fighting on the north-west front, where, following the Russian advance, the Germans are trying desperately to wrest the initiative from the Red, Army. A Soviet Army commissar, in an article in “Red Star,” states that tho Soviet Army has made all the necessary plans for th e destruction of the Nazi forces in 1942. The Soviet Army, states the article, has so much material and men at its disposal, that the German Army will never be able to withstand the pressure