Desperate German Counter-offensive

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 51, 2 March 1943, Page 5

Desperate German Counter-offensive

(By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) Received Monday, 11 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 28.

Critical battles are still being fought in the Donetz Basin. Little news is coining through while the struggle is at its height but the Germans are putting up the toughest resistance the Russians have encountered in the whole three months of their offensive. The Germans are rushing up troops and putting them into the fighting straight from the march. THAW HELPS GERMANS LONDON, Feb. 28. The Germans are benefiting from the thaw which has slowed down the Russian advance in many sectors and are now building up a most stubborn resistance on all active fronts. Apparently they are making a terrific effort to hold the Russian advances which menace both their whole southern positions and the Dnieper Line. Moscow correspondents emphasise that the obstinate fighting in the bloody struggle for the Donetz Basin has been heightened, especially in the central region, where the Wehrmacht is countering furiously to loosen the Russian grip on strategic railways. To-day's German communique claims that Kramatorsk and also Losovaya have been recaptured, but Moscow does not admit the loss of these places. Despatches from Moscow state the Russians are still fighting south-west of Ivramatorsk, where they have smashed repeated German counter-attacks, while General Vatoutin's columns have advanced south-west of Voroshilovsk. overcoming all attempts to halt them and killing 3000 during one German counter-stroke.

Reuter's Moscow correspondent says the Red Army's position in the Donetz Basin is complicated by the terraced terrain on the north coast of the Sea of Azov, where the Germans have constructed a miniature Siegfried Line, converting every hill into an underground fortress. Sometimes these are defended by 12 rows of barbed wire. These are linked up with deep communication trenches.

General Malinovski, who is already astride the Stalino-Taganrog railway, faces difficulties in clearing up this threat to his flank before developing the pincer along the south side of the Donetz Basin. Russian heavy artillery is now thundering against the German defences, smashing block-houses and trenches and driving the Germans out step by step.

The Germans repeatedly previously counter-attacked, but the full power of the strong armour they brought up from Dnepropetrovsk with a view to recovering Kramatorsk struck the Russians on February 20. The struggle raged for 72 hours.

The Russians also possessed big armoured forces, resulting in great tank battles in which the Germans lost more than 100 tanks. The fighting shifted to south-west, of Kramatorsk on February 23, where it continued with fluctuating success. The German tank losses were again over 100, but the Germans are attempting to drive a wedge between the Russians in the Donetz Basin and those pressing towards the Dnieper. The Germans are sparing nothing. Their armour is still powerful and the outcome of the battle will have most im portant repercussions on a large part of the southern front. The fact that the Germans are risking a substantial force despite the danger of its being trapped shows the importance attached to the battle.

Other correspondents state that as the Germans are grimly clinging to the southernmost line the Russians are thrusting deep into the Ukraine, west of Kharkov towards Poltava and Kiev, also towards Orel, forcing the Germans to hurl in reinforcements, including planes. The Luftwaffe in waves of 10 to 20 is incessantly pounding the Russian forward positions in the Orel area. The Red air force is also very active. According to the British United Press, powerful Russian tank and infantry forces west of Kharkov twice in the past 24 hours have forged ahead in the teeth of fierce resistance, occupying towns and villages. Poltava is already partially outflanked northwards and southwards, but the thicklv populated country is filled with small villages which must be cleared singlv.