CRIMEA DRIVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24915, 14 May 1942, Page 5

CRIMEA DRIVE

SEVERE FIGHTING RUSSIAN LINES HOLDING 7" , NAZIS’ EXTRAVAGANT CLAIM (Rec. 1 aJn.) LONDON,' May 13. The Soviet mid-day communique reports severe fighting on the Kerch Peninsula, but says that during the night there were no Important changes at any point along the whole front. The German High Command, on the other hand, makes the claim that the Battle of the'Breach on Kerch has been decided and ended with the aimibilation of the Russian forces. It is authoritatively stated that the Germans launched the Kerch Peninsula offensive last Friday, employing a “few” divisions, accompanied by a heavy air attack, which was concentrated against troops rather than communications. The Germans progressed a little at the northern end of the front, which is believed to cover the whole peninsula north of Theodosia, After three days of bitter fighting the Red Army forced back the Germans to their original positions. German casualties were heavy. Reuter’s correspondent on the German frontier says reports indicate that Soviet bombers heavily attacked German troop concentrations and supply columns in eastern Crimea. The Germans launched their offensive with powerful forces on the narrowest part of the isthmus, which is about 12 miles across, joining the Kerch. Peninsula with Crimed. It is believed that the Germans will also try to thrust along the northern shore of the Sea of Azov towards Rostov, thus, opening up another threat to the Caucasus. After that the fighting is likely" to Safe" up on a tremendous scale'all .alpng the front. Already operations oh a considerable scale are developing to the south of Leningrad. T i German Air Activity The German military spokesman said .hell had been let loose over the Bolshevik positions on the Kerch Peninsula. Squadron after sqiiadron of German planes were racing over the Russian front, with Junkers 87’s carrying out dive-bombing attacks. German and Rumanian troops were operating''against a numerically superior enemy.. ... • ■ German sources report great concentrations of Russians near Lake Ilmen, and strong enemy thrusts across the Donetz River. This is regarded in London as an indication that the Red Army is completing its positional operations in preparation for the coming struggle. A Stockholm report from Berlin says the chief of staff of the Storm Troops, Viktor Lutze, told correspondents that about 1,000,000 of Germany’s; 1,400,000 Storm Troopers were already at • the Russian front, and had suffered heavy losses, including 12 generals and 17 brigadiers killed.

“A Limited Action ”

The latest news from Moscow states that , the Russians are holding the drive. a -

A military spokesman in Berlin declared that .the German' and Rumanian attack was certainly not the beginning • of the promised great offensive. It . was merely a , limited action designed to prepare for the great event which was coming, but it was the first, large-scale attaint and was of some importance within the limits mentioned, because an Axis victory would mean that the Russians would lose a springboard for carefully prepared operations aimed at recapturing the Crimea; ' The enemy had erected in this comparatively narrow space extraordinarily, strong fortifications, with excellent ground organisations,for large iit Tomatibhs. .He was 'employing land forces in this area which, were numerically far superior. The entirely new weapons which the German and Rumanian forces were using on the Ketch Peninsula had completely surprised the Russians. Factories situated throughout Europe had during the winter not only improved the existing types’of arms, but had worked on inventions. When a large-scale offensive began, arms would be available which would have a simiiar'effect to that when the Germar attacked the enemy’s' defences iri France. .

_The Stockholm correspondent of The Times says the Russians had strengthen^“ their on the peninsula since the New Year, and would also realise its importance. Therefore, the hardest fighting yet seen in the Crimea can be expected, in the near future. The German reference to Russian strength is most significant. It is very unusual that such a -tone should be adopted before the. opening of an offensive, v;.

.. A German war correspondent claims that dive-boniber formations totalling 2000 .planes are operating on the peninsula. The Germans soon after the attack opened achieved complete mastery in the air. German planes operated without respite for 15 hours and dropped* over 2000 bombs.

GERMAN VERSION OF DRIVE

RUSSIAN DEFENCES BROKEN (Reca ll p.m.) LONDON, May 13. V A .Vichy -News Agency despatch from the -Crimea states that the Germans- opened ; the Kerch Peninsula offensive with a night landing on the shore of. the. Gulf of Theodosia, behind the Russian lines, seizing a strip of land stretching from the Black Rea coast to Lake Übandar., On Sunday night. German and Rumanian troops broke through • the . Russian defences, reaching the. -outskirts of Marienthal on Monday and the Azov Sea coast at dawh oh* Tuesday. They afterwards advanced along the Gulf of Arabat as far as Ojuspete. The night landing was made in specially armed steel barges and protected motor torpedo boats carrying cannon and light machine-guns. Throughout the following night reinforcements were landed on either side of the bridgehead and a parallel road. Anti-tank obstacles, ex-tending-to a great depth, held tip the Axis tanks for a time, but by Sunday night the enemy’s defences were broken and the main forces joined up with the landing parties. BOLD RUSSIAN ACTION PARACHUTE TROOPS DROPPCb IN BULGARIA SYDNEY, May 8. Three hundred Russian parachutists were dropped over Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, and another 300 over Drama, in north-eastern Greece, some weeks ago;, and many are still at large, says the London correspondent of the Australian Associated Press. They damaged the main railway station at Sofia, delaying traffic to Belgrade for over a week. The Drama raid coincided with unrest among Greek and Bulgarian peasants after the Germans had seized their tobacco crop with inadequate compensation. The story of this bold Russian action to rally the Bulgarians against Axis attempts to force their country into war against the Soviet was told by a Bulgarian politician who escaped from the worst concentration camp the Germans have established in Bulgaria, and is now in Cairo He said that 220 parachutists had been given shelter by peasants in the Drama mountains. Fifty others committed suicide when capture was inevitable. Thirty others, including a 20-year-old woman, were taken prisoner after they had penetrated the Drama radio station.

News of their landing in Sofia sent crowds demonstrating in the streets, shouting, “Long live Stalin! Victory for Russia!" Some of the parachutists are Bulgarians, who took refuge in Russia during previous anti-Commun-ist purges in Bulgaria. They are urging the people to link up with the Serbian guerrillas under General Mihailovitch, These guerrillas, it is said, are buying arms from discontented German troops.

Dutchmen Shot by Nazis The Germans have announced the shooting of 24 more Dutchmen in Holland, and three others have been sent to prison. They were accused of being leaders of a secret organisation.