RUSSIAN SUCCESSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25111, 30 December 1942, Page 3

RUSSIAN SUCCESSES

ADVANCES ON ALL FRONTS ENEMY RELIEF ARMY REPULSED (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 29. To-day's news from Moscow reports further advances on all four offensive fronts—the Middle Don, south-west of Stalingrad, the central Caucasus, and the Rjev-Velikie Luki front. The most spectacular success was gained south-west of Stalingrad, where the so-called German relief army has been driven back towards Kotelnikovo, which the Russians are reported to have almost surrounded. Since this offensive began the Soviet forces have killed 20,000 Germans, taken 3000 prisoners, and destroyed or captured 500 tanks, as well as hundreds of guns and aircraft. In this offensive, the Russians have now regained all the ground taken by the Germans in their recent push, and in some places have advanced beyond the original enemy line. The German forces trapped between the Don and the Volga are being steadily whittled down. The Russian army driving down from Millerovo is now threatening Kamenskaya, 50 miles from the important German base of Rostov. On the Middle Don front, according to the Moscow correspondent of The Times, the corridor through which the German southern armies are supplied has now been narrowed to about 100 miles. How many Germans remain in the eastern part of the great Don bend between the railway across the Don and the lower stretches of the river is uncertain, but the situation is developing, and promises the capture of a large area of the steppe. The correspondent says the trapped army's positions here jure rapidly deteriorating, and there are indications that the Russians are beginning to hammer harder both from the air and the ground. The distance German relief planes fly has been doubled in the last week as the Luftwaffe cannot risk using airfields close to the front, where Russian tanks are audaciously thrusting through. The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Express says Russian official reports are at present veiling all operations, but it is clear that part of the army is pushing to the south-west towards the giant industrial Donetz city of Voroshilovgrad. The Russians claim more successes on the central front in the Velikie Luki area, where four more inhabited localities were taken. They have also advanced in the Caucasus south-west of Nalchik, where an important height was occupied. The Berlin radio, reporting that the temperature on the Russian front during Christmas was between 4 and 22 degrees (Fahrenheit) below zero, said: " This marks the beginning of this year's great cold in the east." Reuters Moscow correspondent estimates the losses by the Germans and their vassals since the beginning of the Soviet autumn offensive at about 400,000 killed and taken prisoner. The losses of tanks and planes are sufficiently high to present an awkward problem for the Germans.