DOUBLE PUSH

Grey River Argus, 25 February 1943, Page 5

DOUBLE PUSH

BY THE RUSSIANS OREL AND SOUTH-WEST Resistance Still Stiffer LONDON, Feb. 23. Concentrating powerful forces on a 150-mile front based at Pavlograd, Krasnograd and Trostyanets, the Russians have pierced deeply into the Ukraine, threatening Dnepropetrovsk by pincers. ' The British United Press correspondent at Moscow says: “The Russians are developing the movement against Dnepropetrovsk from the south, where they are within 20 miles of the Sinelikovo rail junction. The loss of this would further imperil the chances of the withdrawal of the German southern armies. Russians to the north are thrusting from Krasnograd towards the Dnieper and are simultaneo.usly menacing Poltava. After strengthening their right flank in the advance towards Poltava by the capture of villages west of Graivoron, the Russians are pressing from Trostyanets along the railway to Sumy, additionally menacing Byelopoyle, another junction on the German lateral railway system. The Red Army to-day captured Sumy, Akhtryka and Lebedin, bringing the Russians as far westward as they are southward towards the Dneiper line.

Against Orel RUSSIAN FLANKING MOVE. LONDON, Feb. 23. In the Kursk region Russian forces have occupied Maloarkhangiesk. Russians broke into German defences south of Orel. At London commentators believe the flanking threat to Orel, after’ the capture of Maloarkhangeisk is even more significant than Russian gains in Ukraine to the south. Hundreds of the enemy were wiped out. Steady Russian progress is recorded towards Orel; where the Germans were partly caught in pincers and forced to retreat rapidly to avoid encirclement. “The Times” Moscow correspondent says: Despite one of the heaviest snowfalls for a long time in Central Russia, and paucity of communications, the Red Army is developing the offensive on Orel in a manner causing the Germans acute anxiety. Russian capture of strongly-fortified points suggests that fighting is going on on one of the great defence lines which the Germans have thrown up in the wooded country. Substantial units of British Matildas and American tanks are operating in fhpep Qppfnrs The Germans converted the whole railway system to the European gauge.’ Snowstorms do not hinder the ’indefatigable Russian repair squads. One of the most stirring sights is the battle against the elements, the entire local population turning out with shovels to clear th P roads for the Red Army. Marching men, strained to the utmost limit of endurance, crowd into a tiny roadside house, sleeping standing up wedged against each other. Russians between Kursk and Kharkov are fighting far from their bases, demanding great endurance. “The Times” Stockholm correspondent says: If Russians get astride the only metalled road and railway to Bryansk, the Orel fortress will virtually be isolated. The Germans regard,’or at least regarded, the fortified area of Orel as one of the chief corner-stones of the defences northward from Kharkov. Its loss would threaten to roll up the central front opposite Tula, Moscow and Kalinin. This partly explains why the Germans are most tenaciously clinging to this outpost, and why they are so largely reinforcing the Orel sector. Russian airmen are now busily bombing the Orel garrison.

Southern Sector RUSSIANS -BY-PASS TAGANROG LONDON, Feb. 23. General Malinovski, leaping forward west of. Rostov and by-passing Taganrog, is now driving in the direction of the Mariupol-Stalino railway, aiming at the disruption of the tenacious German resistance in the vicinity of Stalino. This movement was made in conduction with the new attack from Kramatorskaya, which also menaces the MariupolStalino railway. The Russians progrossed in the drive south-west of Voroshilovgrad, but are still apparently held by the furious German defence in the Krasnoarmeysk region where the enemy is struggling to retain the 57-mile gap. Enemy Reinforced IN THE SOUTH. LONDON, Feb. 23. In the Donetz Basin there is severe fighting north of Stalino. The Germans have brought up reserves and are making strong efforts to hold up the Russian advance. “The Times” adds: The Germans on the Kursk-Kharkov front have been reinforced by men who have not previously fought in Russia. The German Command carefully avoids mixing the reinforcements with those who escaped from the Kastornoie disaster, which is as significant in the central sectors, as Stalingrad was in the south. ’ Moscow radio declared that Hitler has switched 22 divisions from the west to the Russian front in the past 24 hours. ITALIAN AIR CHIEF MISSING LONDON, Feb. 23. Rome radio announced that General Enrico Pezzi. Italian Air Force Commander-in-Chief in Russia, had not returned from an operations flight.