Vital Railway Menaced

Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 22, 27 January 1942, Page 5

Vital Railway Menaced

RUSSIANS STRIKE AT “SPINAL CORD” OF HUN FRONT LONDON, Jan. 25. The Russians are deepening the wedge they have driven into the German lines between Kholm and Tor ope ta and are striking towards the Leaingrad-Ukraine railway, Hitler’s principal means of lateral communication on the Eastern Front. This railway is described as the ‘‘spinal column” of the German front. To-night’ 8 Russian communique reports the recapture of Nelidovo, 60 miles west of Rzhev on the railway line leading west to LatviaIt is 90 miles from Velikiye Luki, vital junction of the east-west and north-south lines. All German supply lines from Nelidovo to the German front line have been cut. Several other places which have not been, named have also been re-occupied. In the centre of the front, tho Russians are pushing on towards Smolensk. The Germans admit heavy and continuous Russian assaults in the Donetz region. in the Barents Sea, the Russian have sunk a 5000-ton German transport. Yesterday they brought down 39 German planes for the loss of 11. The rapid advance north of Smolensk, which has brought the Russians to within 40 miles of the important railway junction of Velikiye Luki (150 miles west of Rzhev on a line south from Leningrad), is expected in military quarters in London to have great repercussions on the rest of the central front in a few days.

The Germans in the Rzhev area are now in a very difficult position, with the railway cut behind them. The new Russian thrust, which is on a broad front of nearly 100 miles, therefore seriously threatens—this time from the north—the flank of the large German forces withdrawing in the central (Smolensk, Viazma and Rzhev region. Reports indicate that the Russians east of Leningrad, are steadily progressing on the Volkhov front, hammering at the rear of the besiegers of Leningrad. They have established a railway across the ice of Lake Ladoga, linking Leningrad with the railway to Vologada. South of Moscow, the Russians are maintaining pressure toward Kursk, and the Russians at Kharkov, industrial capital of the Ukraine, have reached the city’s second line of forts but the strong fortifications necessitate heavy preparation by artillery before the attack can bo continued. The Russians in the other Donetz sectors have scored local successes. The Russians and Germans in the Crimea are locked in bitter battles round Sebastopol and north-westward of Theodosia.