SOVIET DRIVE ON KHARKOV

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24275, 16 May 1942, Page 7

SOVIET DRIVE ON KHARKOV

BREACH IN ENEMY DEFENCE LINE By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright CReeeiwi May 16, 1.6 a.m.) LONDON. May 15 r Russia has successfully launched a full-scale offensive in the ! Ukraine, according to the Moscow radio. Fierce fighting continues also on the Kerch Peninsula, in the Crimea, where the Soviet troops have made further withdrawals. On the Leningrad front the Red Army has launched heavy attacks and claims to be making progress. A Stockholm report says that on the central front both sides are fencing for advantageous positions along the neck of the Via2ma sack, where the Germans are holding the Smolensk- Viazma railway. The Germans are making an effort near Smolensk to purge the countryside of partisan troops and this is resulting in battles with casualties running into thousands. Strong forces under Marshal Timoshenko have broken through the Germans" first defence line at Kharkov and are preparing to advance against the second line and against the city itself, says the Moscow radio in describing the Ukraine thrust. The= midnight communique from Moscow says the advance in the Kharkov sector continues. In two days" fighting the Russians have destroyed or damaged 150 enemy tanks, captured much booty and taken many prisoners. Reuter's correspondent on the German frontier says an Axis despatch from the Ukraine front states that the Russians have crossed the Donetz River and reached a point seven miles toward Kharkov. The Germans are retiring slowly "while awaiting reinforcements, the arrival of which is imminent." Reuter's Moscow correspondent says the latest news from the Kharkov front states that the Russians are still advancing. Another Moscow report says tank forces were hurled in from two directions against one fortified zone in the German defence system. After the tanks went through infantry surrounded the German pill boxes and the Russians are now pouring through the gap. The 8.8.C. observer says the offensive is developing very well. The Red Army is now expanding the gap in the German lines. The enemy has suffered great losses in men and materials. According to the Soviet military journal Red Star, the Russian attack on Kharkov surprised the Germans, who hurriedly retreated, abandoning great quantities of ammunition, artillery and other war material. The Germans called up reserves, but •failed to check the Russians. The Moscow radio says the attack was launched against a number of sectors on the Kharkov front and the Red Army's first successes there are far greater than 1 the German gains on the Kerch front. The attack is no mere I diversion aimed at distracting the Germans from the Crimea. Reuter's Moscow correspondent reports that a German pilot, who flew over the Russian lines and gave himself up, asserted that the Germans at Kharkov had already made preparations for evacuating the city if necessary. There is also a regular trickle of reports from refugees, suggesting that the Germans have been forced to resort to terror tactics to retain control over Kharkov and the surrounding districts.