Kursk Capture Great Breach Se German East Wall

Northern Advocate, 10 February 1943, Page 3

Kursk Capture Great Breach Se German East Wall

(8.0. W. 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 9. The recapture of the great industrial z city and iron ore centre of Kursk, t opens a new phase in the Eastern J Front. Hitherto the Russians h?ve s been regaining the ground lost last t year. Now not only are last year’s t gains virtually wiped out, but the ( Russians have also made a great ] breach in the Germans’ “east wall,”: which hitherto defended the enormous-;' ly rich area in southern Russia heldli by the invaders. The suddenness of i] the capture of Kursk is regarded as ofj! the greatest importance from the point;; of morale for it is on the retreating army that the moral effect is heaviest] In the Donetz bendf the Germans are I faced with the alternative of holding; on or retreating. Interest centres on Gorlovka, 25 miles north-east of Stalino. The Russians attacking from the north are much closer to this traffic centre of the Donetz basin than the Germans defending the river line over 100 miles east.. If the Germans are unable to check the drive on Gorlovka it seems inevitable that they ! must attempt a rapid retreat. It ap-! . pears unlikely that the rapidity of the! ' Russian advance will exposp the Sov-j iet forces to the possibility of attack; ; because the Germans evidently have • used all reserves in attempts to plug [ the gaps caused by Russian encircle- , ments. Indeed, the Russians in reI cent weeks have driven the Germans • back faster than they advanced in ' the summer.

Progress Continues

The latest Moscow communique says, that progress continues along the front from Kursk to the Donetz basin and! the advance continues from Kursk itself, across the railway north of Byelgorod, east of Kharkov and southwards into the industrial area into the region of Krama and Orskaya. Action is also being taken against the last German pocket of resistance in the Caucasus east of Kerch Strait.

Yesterday the Russians resumed the advance on Krasnodar from 20 and 35 miles away in the north-east and north respectively. Taman Peninsula, south of Yeisk, and the coast from there to the mouth of the Don seems to have been completely cleared oi Germans

Key “Hedgehog” Gone

Kursk was one of Hitler’s most im-i portant “hedgehogs,” says a Press] Agency Moscow correspondent, and the linking junction on Moscow-Ros-tov and Kiev-Voronej railways. Itwas captured by the Red Army after smashing the stubborn resistance of German and Hungarian troops. The enemy had managed to bring reinforcements from Lgov, 44 miles west ol Kursk, but the Red Army severed j all railway and highway communica-j tion with Orel and points further east. ( Reinforcements from German tank divisions and a motor-cycle division were dismounted and fought as infantry. The Germans also rounded up all convalescents and slightly wounded men who, with the garrison and reinforcements, formed a “Kursk army.” The Germans fought behind fortifications which had been built by thousands of civilians and had taken more than a year to erect. General Schnieder, who was commander at Kursk, was ordered to hold on to the last with a promise of relief—a promise which may have reminded him of von Paulus. In any case his army no longer exists. A Vast Cemetery

The assault on the city began last

week when the Red Army battered the German lines and then, by the

capture of the station at Zorino, cut the railway linking Kursk “with Lgov. The first approach was from the north-west where ravines and deep

cut ditches impeded the Soviet advance. Despite, all this, the semicircle around the city tightened and the Russians broke into the streets of the town which is described by “Pravda” as a vast cemetery. Thousands of civilians had been tortured to death or summarily executed and 25,000 transported to Germany op to work as slaves. The museum and picture gallery had been destroyed and numerous modern buildings had been set on fire.

No Defensive Line

German forces in the Donetz area, composed chiefly of the armies which retreated from the Don elbow and the Caucasus, have been constantly suffering defeat since November and, although originally first-class veterans, are now not suitable, without thorough reorganisation for a large offensive or long effective delaying battle, says “The Times” Stockholm correspondent. The Germans apparently have no prepared defence line behind the present crumbling front and need time to organise for spring and summer.

The Germans are still harping on having shortened lines, but now realise that this process everywhere has worked to the Russians’ advantage. Russian victors from Stalingrad and! the Caucasus are still first-rate troops,! more confident and more numerous to! the mile than before, whereas the I Germans on a shortened front everywhere are devoid of offensive mentality and are materially and mentally shaken. It is obvious that the Germans continued ineffective use of reserves, because the scale of operations is eating up thousands and Germany needs a great horde of well-equipped troops to halt the Russian steamroller. ( From Two Directions Further details of the Russian capture of Kursk are contained in a special Soviet communique now available. Kursk was occupied by the Germans on November 3, 1941. The communique states: “On February 7 of this year Soviet troops, under command of Major-General Chernyaksovsky, by a sweeping offensive occupied the town of Kursk. The first Soviet units which penetrated the town were commanded by Colonel Bushin, Colonel Gussev and Lieutenant-Colonel Porakasaky. Occupation of fhe town had been carried out in co-operation with Soviet troops operating from the north-west of the town under command of Colonel Gilosov and Colonel Ihcasadev. Much booty, which is being counted, has been captured. “The communique adds that north-east of Bylegorod, Soviet troops, after stubborn fighting. occupied the town of Koroeha. The significance of the capture of Kursk is that the Russians are 40 miles nearer another important lateral communication line with the railway from Briansk to Kharkov. Little doubt is felt that the booty captured at: Kursk will prove largo, as the Gormans have regarded the town as an important supply centre. Korceha was already well in the rear of the advancing Russians but was doubtless a well-defended hedgehog of resistance. The Red Army has now retaken the whole of the Yeisk Peninsula on the Sea of Azov. A Russian communique announces the capture of Alexandrovka on the Azov coast about midway between Yeisk and Rostov, also Kamyshevatskaya on the Azov coast midway between Kerch Peninsula and Rostov. Novokorsunskaya and Dyadkovskaya, respectively, 45 and 35 miles north-east of Krasnodar, were also captured.

Avalanche of Successes

A ■ Soviet night communique repeated, the successes announced in a special communique (notably the capture of Kursk), and stated that in the Korocha area, north-west of Byelgorod, a number of [inhabited localities were taken, Ivhile •in the north Caucasus district the centre land railway station of Staro-Seherbinovs-j kaya (20 miles south-east of Yeisk). three • district centres, six inhabited localities ;and two railway stations were captured. (Seme of the localities mentioned are on the shores of the Sea of Azov and others ch tKe shores of the Gulf of Taganrog, nerth-east of Yeisk. The latter was [occupied by the Russians on February 6.