LULL IN RUSSIA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 25 June 1943, Page 2

LULL IN RUSSIA

NO SIGNS OF GERMAN OFFENSIVE LOCAL SUCCESS OF SOVIET FORCE (Rec. 12.10 p.m.) London, June 24. With the drawing to a close of a week in which experts expressed the opinion that the Germans if they mean business in Russia in 1943 must get started, there are still no signs that the Germans are risking getting their troops involved in a full-scale engagement. The only land movement of any significance is a flare-up of fighting around Mtsensk and Sevsk northwards and southwards of the Orel bulge. Russians north-west of Mtsensk broke into German lines and captured material. Red Army gunners in the Sevsk region smashed German battalion headquarters and destroyed an enemy-held railway bridge. Berlin radio to-night admitted that the Red Army south of Velikiyeluki had broken in the main German defence lines. "The enemy was able to force a break-through but a counterattack sealed off the breach. ’ The Red Army has been filling in the three months’ lull concentrating on a new type of defence to hold any attempted German break-through, Reuter’s Moscow correspondent reports. The Russians have devised special tank traps intended to cripple the Germans much-vaunted new Tiger type.