RUSSIAN THRUST ALONG LOWER DON

Grey River Argus, 11 January 1943, Page 5

RUSSIAN THRUST ALONG LOWER DON

ENEMY PUSHED TOWARDS THE DONETZ

Caucasus Exit Being Narrowed

[Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, Jan. 8

Russian forces are continuing a thrust down the lower Don, and ' have extended their hold on the area south of the river and north of the main railway. They are at least more than ninety miles east of Rostov and they may be nearer. Military observers in London state that the offensive in this direction may soon be effectively threatening Rostov and place the Germans m the Caucasus in a critical position. At present, in the Central Caucasus, the Germans who are falling back on the Kumj River are still three times further from Rostov than the Russians , advancing down the Don. A Soviet communique on Friday stated: “On Thursday Slight the Red Army continued to forge ahead in the lower Don area in spite of strong enemy resistance. TJ»e Germans made repeated counter-attacks with tanks and motorised infantry. Each attack was overwhelmed. On the north bank of the Don Russian forces have reached Nikolaevsk, which is thirty miles, from the point where the Don joins the Donetz. The forces on the south bank of the Don have also made further advances, and one report -states that they have already pushed down the Sal River to a point seventy miles from Rostov. Tn the rear of these forces fighting is still continuing at Stalingrad The Germans have been thrown bad* from eighteen fortified points, ano to the north-west Soviet patrols penetrated the enemy positions and brought back prisoners. The forces in the northern Caucasus are hard on the heels of the Germans and thev have taken more places to add to the forty which they occupied yesterday. As they fail pack the Germans are setting fire to villages, blowing up bridges and mining roads. Before Velikiye Luki the Germans made a determined counter-attack, but. when fourteen tanks had been knocked out the attacking forces withdrew. Correspondents in Moscow state that General Rokossovsky’s armoured forces are sweeping northward from the Don across the steppes at the rate of fifteen to twenty miles a day and ar e rapidly approaching the junction of the Don and the Donetz. sixtv miles from Rostov. The Russians southward of the Don are pouring over the Tymlanskaya bridgehead and have, alter racing sixty miles in , seventy-two hours, broadened their front on the Sal to forty miles. They are now less than fifty miles from Salsk, potentially endangering (he German rear on the Kotelnikov-Tikhoretsk railway. ~ . The Red Armies striking across the Kalmuk steppes and the Russians driving north from the Mosdok area continue their swift .advance against the Spa regions of the Caucasus, where new localities have fallen to the Russians. A Soviet communique reports the continued success of storm detachments and patrol parties m the Stalingrad factory area and northwest of the city. Considerable enemy resistance on the lower Don is also reported. . A Reuter’s correspondent, in Moscow states that the north Caucasian army has reachel Stepnoe, 40 utiles north of Mosdok and less than 40 miles from the Russian army pushing south from Stalingrad, which reached Urozlianoe yesterday. lhe German forces attempted to make a Hand at Stepnoe, but the Red Army attacked so strongly that the enemy was (mown into a new retreat. The line of the retreat is jammed with abandoned Germans tanks, lorries and guns. Trains loaded with muni'ions were found at several railway junetk ns. . , -r,lhe xa>.guard of the Soviet offensive down ihe Don River has passed Stakhov, s.xteen miles west of Orlovka. , To che nc’-'th the Russians have defeated a determined German attempt to i (.capture Velik ye Luki.