NEW KERCH BATTLES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24759, 6 December 1943, Page 3

NEW KERCH BATTLES

RED *ARMY IN CRIMEA AIM TO WIDEN BRIDGEHEAD (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 4 Fierce battles have begun to widen the Soviet bridgehead on Kerch Peninsula, in the Crimea, says the Red Star. The Russians, after capturing Novo Georgievsk, are continuing to drive on. The Germans had no time to seriously wreck Novo Georgievsk, and they left much booty. Guerilla activities in the Crimea are reported by the News Chronicle correspondent in Moscow. He says Soviet aircraft land behind the German lines every day with supplies for the partisans, who wage continual war against the enemy's communications. LULL ON KIEV FRONT STRUGGLE IN SEA OF MUD (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 4 The Paris radio, quoting Berliu military opinion, says there is a lull in the fighting on the Kiev front, owing to bad weather. The Russian and German armies are struggling in a sea of mud. Correspondents in Moscow state that a great swaying battle is still being fought out in the Chernyakov, Brusilov and Korosten sectors of the Kiev bulge, where the Germans are believed to have forced the Russians to make several withdrawals. So far, however, they have not succeeded in effecting a decisive break-through. RAIDS BY ' SKI PATROLS GERMAN "MAGIC CIRCLES" (Heed. 6.35 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 4 With the snow blanket thickening in many sectors, Soviet ski patrols have made the first raids on the German garrisons close behind the front, states a Moscow message. The Germans are surrounding these localities with "magic circles'' —tracks made by their own skiers and inspected every hour for the tell-tale cross tracks. Soviet skiers are defeating these precautions by keeping a strict look-out for the tracks of enemy skiers, and are carefully removing their traces at all points. They also assign to small groups of skiers the task of making false trails leading away from the main raid routes. Soviet trade unions have undertaken to train 400,000 Russians in the use of skis this winter. FUTURE OF FRANCE DISAGREEMENT WITH SMUTS (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) ALGIERS, Dec. 4 The French National Committee, in an official statement regarding FieldMarshal Smuts' speech, said: "The French leaders disagree most violently with the statement 'France has gone.' On the contrary, France is proving by her own actions that she is still a great Power." The Committee added that FieldMarshal Smuts' line of thinking was typical of the ignorance which was imperilling France's future relations with the Allies. CONTROL IN CORSICA (Reed. 5.30 p.m.) ALGIERS, .Dec. 4 The French National Committee has ordered the dissolution of the General Council for Corsica.