HEROIC CITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24302, 17 June 1942, Page 3

HEROIC CITY

SEBASTOPOL HOLDS OX TERRIFIO ENEMY ONSLAUGHT (Reed. 8.20 p.m.) LONDON, June 16 The Germans, in addition to throwing in a huge new weight of men and metal against Sebastopol, now claim to be using "super-heavy" artillery which is capable of dealing with the Russian rock and concrete fortifications. Sebastopol's defenders are fighting back with ferocious determination, bombarding the Germans from caverns and hewn cliffs, or sallying out to launch local counter-attacks to exact a maximum toll for each German move. In one sector they killed nearly 3000 in two days. Naval Bombardment A report from Moscow to-night reveals that Russian commandos, including sailors, marines and soldiers, are als i taking part in Sebastopol's de-ffv-.e. The Black Sea Fleet is reported to have swept in and bombarded German positions, sending over a heavy barrage and inflicting severe losses. The Russian Fleet is compensating to some extent for the. superiority of enemy planes. Planes from the aircraft carrier Stalin are assisting the land-based planes in fighting off the incessant German air raids on the city and the outer defences. Fierce air duels rage all day and all night. According to the Daily Telegraph's Moscow correspondent, the Germans a,re employing 1500 planes in the Crimea. In one small sector of the perimeter alone they dropped 1000 bombs yesterday. They average 1000 flights a day over the city itself. The Soviet Air Force waa active yesterday, destroying 13 tanks and damaging six others, and wiping out two companies of infantry. Army of Citizens

A great part of the city continues t-o pump life-blood in the form of food, munitions and electric power to the forces manning the defences. These anonymous heroes, the citizens of Sebastopol, carry on with unruffled nerves. Fa-en the oldest men are armed to the teeth with rifles and grenades. They are keeping the lines of communication open, putting out fires and removing land mines from the streets of the city. Every man and woman in Sebastopol has been given a rifle. They have been taught how to deal with any Germans who may land in the rear of the defences. A Moscow report states that the Soviet troops defending Sebastopol have been reinforced by a large army of citizens, including women snipers. Hand-to-Hand Fighting Hand-to-hand fighting continues in many parts of the perimeter of the defences before Sebastopol. The German High Command claims that the Russians have been thrown out of several strongly-fortified positions and that Axis infantry have thrust deeply into the Russian defence system have not been confirmed. Swedish correspondents in Berlin report that Russian reinforcements in troops and material have arrived at Sebastopol. The Moscow newspaper Pravda states that the Germans have hurled reserves from other fronts against Sebastopol. thus further increasing the ferocity and scope of the battle. Especially violent battles have been raging on two sectors of the front, in which artillery, tanks and infantry have taken part. Broadcasting from Berlin, a wellknown German military commentator said that all the advantages of the ground were in favour of the defenders. The deep ravines and crevasses provided excellent cover. He pointed out that tanks could do little in such country and the brunt of the fighting: must fall on the infantry.

SECOND FRONT FEARED HITLER TAKES PRECAUTIONS GERMAN ARMY IN THE WEST (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, June 16 Hitler is taking the threat of a second front in Europe seriously. He is reported to have taken two precautions. The first is an order to Rundstedt to make the German Army in the west self-supporting. In the second place he has sent Todt's successor, Speer, to inspect Europe's anti-invasion defences. Rundstedt was told he must depend on the factories in Western Germany for his equipment—presumably to economise in transport. Speer is reported to have made a tour in Northern France and Holland, where, according to a Vichy report, every • farmhouse has been converted into a blockhouse, and a network of supply roads to the front has been constructed. Meanwhile, unrest has necessitated more repression. A special section for children has been opened in the concentration camp at Grini. The first batch of children whose parents are already in the camp have been made prisoner behind barbed wire. The voungest is aged four. A Belgian engineer was executed on the' allegation that he was making bombs for sabotage.

JAPANESE TAUNT NEW YORK, June 10 The Japan Times Advertiser, organ of the Foreign Office, asserted that Britain had behaved like a drowning man snatching at straws in concluding the mutual assistance pact with Russia, says the Tokio radio. The paper added that the parallel agreement between Russia and the United States regarding second front was rather tragic for the United States, which ought to have known better than anyone else that it was impossible to form a second front in Europe. However. both agreements were highly significant since they implied British and American submission to the Soviet Union.

WOMEN ENGINEERS MEMBERSHIP OF UNION LONDON, June 10 One of the biggest and most important trade unions in Britain, the Amalgamated Engineering Union, opened its annual conference in Britain yesterday. The president spoke of the vast strides Britain's war production had made in the past six months. There was still a lot more to be done, however, and the new workers' committees set up in all war factories would help to overcome overlapping and redtape. He called on the conference to admit women to the union's; ranks. He said thousands of women were now doing engineers' tasks and they must help to defend the standards of the men they have replaced. If the conference does admit women to membership of the union they will reverse a 92-year-old policy of confining membership to men alone.

MEDALS SENT BACK (Reed. 7.15 p.m.) NEW YORK, June 15 Two Japanese medals given to two Americans 34 years ago have been returned to Japan with interest. Henry Vormstein and John Laurey received these medals when they visited Japan with the United States Fleet. Last January, Vormstein and Laurey, who now work in the New York Navy Yard, sent the medals to Colonel Frank Knox, the Secretary of the Navy, requesting him to return them to Japan. Colonel Knox has written to Vormstein informing him that the medals were attached to a 5001b. bomb delivered in Tokio with appropriate ceremony on April 18 bv Lieutenant Lawson.