MIDDLE DON GAINS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 24, 28 December 1942, Page 5

MIDDLE DON GAINS

ENEMY POC’TION WORSE

RAPID RUSSIAN ADVANCE.

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, Dec. 27. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the Red Army, in the last 24 hours, has crowded into Millerovo, which is beleaguered on all sides. The Russians have recaptured Tarasov. 15 miles south of Millerovo on tlie Millerovo-Rostov railway. They have taken Grekove, 10 miles westward of Millerovo, and also Malchevskaya railAvay station, 10 miles from the city and on the Voroshilovgrad railway.

In the past 11 days the Russians on the Central Don front have advanced from 92 to 125 miles and captured 56,000 prisoners as well as enough war material to equip several divisions. They are sweeping on to Kamensk, where the Voronczh-Rostov railway crosses the Don. On one airfield captured there were 300 planes, while a further 50 were found loaded on a train. the rapidity of the Russian advance. The Germans are no better prepared for winter than last year, says the British United Press Stalingrad correspondent. The German prisoners are half-starved, ill-clad, and grovelling, sharply contrasting with their former cockiness. Last year prisoners said: “We are fighting for a greater Germany.” This year: “We are soldiers. We .must fight to defend Germany.”

The Germans on the Middle Don front are leaving behind suicide garrisons in their southward and southwestward retreat but the Russian tide is sweeping over them, says tho British United Press Moscow correspondent. The Red Army is dragging quantities of artillery with it as it Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says large-scale fighting occurred south-westwards of Stalingrad, where the Russians are forcing back the Germans along a 22-mile front north and south of the Kotelnikovo railway. The Red Star says the latest Red Army offensive south-westwards of Stalingrad has sealed the fate of the German troops encircled between the Don and the Volga. An ambitious German attempt to reach the trapped forces from the outside, northwards of Kotelnikovo, has, after a rather ticklish moment, been frustrated. The German News Agency says fierce tank battles in more than 30 degrees oF frost are raging round the encircled German army between the Don and the Volga. A special Soviet communique says: The enemy concentrated six divisions, including three armoured, in the Kotelnikovo area. At first, having superior numbers, tlie enemy advanced and occupied several places. The Russians, however, wore them down and eventually threw them back about 14 miles. In the Caucasus more places were taken in the Alagir area between Ordzhonikidze and Nalchik. The recapture of Alagir .restores to the Russians control of the north-vest entrance to the Ossetian military road across the Caucasus, which is valuable when the pass is free from snow. The road connects Ordzhonikidze with Kutais in Western Georgia.