AMAZING FIGHTING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 27 October 1941, Page 5

AMAZING FIGHTING

DASH BY SOVIET TANKS GERMAN COLUMN SURPRISED London, Oct. 26. A correspondent of the “Izvestia” in the Kalinin sector describes amazing fighting at close quarters between tankand plane l -'. Russian tanks penetrated to the German rear to disrupt a supply loute to Kalinin, and a group of ‘he tanks took up a position beside the

j straight north-to-south road leading 'through woods, plains and swamps ‘o I Kalinin. A German column a mile long appeared, comprising artillery staff- | cars, arms lorries, troop lorries, and ! motor cycles, and almost every vehicle had an escorting anti-tank gun. The Russian tanks let the column pass, and then they attacked from the rear, where the Germans had expected no attack. The Russians’ heavy tanks did not bother to use the guns, they simply drove at full speed into the column, flattening each vehicle and rolling on to the next. The German anti-tank guns had no time to fire, and many of the troops had no time to jump from the lorries and were crushed to death. RUSH THROUGH KALININ German bombers from a nearby aerodrome circled over the column for two hours, attempting to halt the tanks with bombs, but the Russians swept an through the inferno into the village “P.” where they smashed the German headquarters and motor cyclists and machine-gunners. The tanks then tore on northward, past the villages “M” and “T,” fighting all the way, and penetrated into Kalinin. Eight tanks broke into Kalinin and continued to fight in narrow streets. They created such panic that the Germans blew up all the bridges on the southern approaches to the town. One tank swept across the town like a hurricane and rejoined the Russian forces at the northern end. Other Russian tank groups, the correspondent says, carried out similar exploits. One crushed three anti-tank guns, cut through a column of lorries smashing 25 of them, and then drove on to an aerodrome. German bombers started to take off. but the Russian tank stopped the first by crashing into its tail, then shot down a second while it was taking off. The remainder of the bombers got off and immediately showered the tanks with bombs.