CALLING THE TUNE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 24, 28 December 1942, Page 2

CALLING THE TUNE

3.45 P.M. EDITION

RUSSIAN STRENGTH GROWS. (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright.) (1.5 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 27. Summing up the situation in Russia a commentator, Lieuten-ant-Colonel Vassilir, says that more and more Russians are joining in the offensive and it is the Red Army, not the Germans, which is seeking; out the weak spots and striking when it is most opportune.

Hitler, instead of regrouping and resting his troops, is continually rushing them from sector to sector in an effort to stop the gaps, he Reuter’s Moscow correspondent describes the capture of 350 German planes at Tatsinskaya as a most significant incident. Russian tank columns crashed down on the to\vn which was a German stronghold, cutting the railway to the north and south. The German garrison fled southwards where Russian tanks and motorised troops were awaiting them. The Russians discovered oO planes in a train en route for a rendezvous where the Luftwaffe was massing to attack the Russian flank, but before the Germans could be informed of the situation the Russians had reached the rendezvous, capturing 300 planes on an airfield, intact with crews.