Another Important Russian Success

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 56, 8 March 1943, Page 5

Another Important Russian Success

Red Army Closing in on Viazma (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) Received Sunday, 10.30 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 6. A special Soviet communique states: “As a result of two assaults Soviet troops occupied the town of Gjatsk. The booty is being counted." Gjatsk was an important German strongpoint and the nearest to Moscow of those remaining in enemy hands. Situated on the Moscow-Viazma-Smolensk railway its occupation indicates that the Red Army is closing in on Viazma from at least two directions, an earlier Moscow message having announced the capture of Osuga, 16 miles southward of Rjev on the railway to Viazma. The booty captured at Osuga included 57 tanks. Other localities have been captured in the advance in the Rjev area, but the Russians are facing very bitter re* sistance, including infantry and panzer counter-attacks. So determined is the resistance that the Germans even launched counter-attacks during the night which is unusual for them. The Germans are also using a large number of mines and also sending out mobile groups of tommy-gunners on skis in attempts to ambush Soviet troops. The Russians are sending out specially trained units to destroy these groups and isolated garrisons while the main Russian forces continued their advance. Enemy counter-drives in the south have gained much ground up to the general line of the Donetz River. The Soviet has made no announcement concerning German progress but evidently the area newly won by the Russians southward of Kharkov is threatened. The possession of that great city, however, gives the Russians a strength they did not have when the Germans advanced in the same direction about a year ago. The Germans continue to speak of a new Russian offensive around Staraya Russa. “The German High Command says operations are proceeding according to plan. If that is the case the plan appears to be to evacuate Russian territory, lose thousands of men and abandon whole arsenals,’ ’ said the Moscow radio commentator. “The Germans in the last 24 hours have succeeded in surrendering 102 villages westward and southward of Rjev alone.’* Doctor Kuznetsov, who has returned to Moscow after service as a surgeon in guerrilla camps, says Russian .war prisoners suffering from typhus are imprisoned in barracks which the Germans set on fire. Any escaping the flames are machine-gunned. He added that the epidemic is rampart in German-occupiea districts where there is no medical aid. War prisoners are dying as the result of brutalities, starvation and disease. Any escaped prisoners joining the guerrillas must first be disinfected so as not to infect others. The Moscow radio announced that Mr. Stalin has been awarded the military title of Marshal of the Soviet Union by the Supreme Soviet Council. A Moscow message states that the Maikop oilfields are already yielding oil and the reconstruction of the entire area has begun at full speed. The rich coal mines at Stavropol have also commenced output.