DRIVE ON VYAZMA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25172, 12 March 1943, Page 3

DRIVE ON VYAZMA

RUSSIAN ADVANCE TOWN ALREADY OUTFLANKED RUGBY, Mar. 10. The midnight Moscow communique reports more Russian successes on the central front. Soviet troops are now within 25 miles of Vyazma on the north, and on the north-east side Soviet forces have made a break-through and occupied a number of places. The Russian line has been stabilised along the middle of the Donetz from Lisichansk up to Kharkov, but none of the recent Russian gains in the Northern Ukraine north-west of Kharkov have bsen affected by the German counter-offensive, nor have the Russian offensives south of Bryansk and against Vyazma and Staraya Russa been stopped. The Russians are halfway from Gjatsk to Vyazma, and have crossed the Lovat River 15 miles southeast of Staraya Russa. They have also advanced to about 50 miles from the Moscow-Smolensk railway north of Yartsevo. A Russian communique states: “On March 10 our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, occupied the town of Byeloi. in the Smolensk region. The booty captured is being counted.” The capture of Byeloi, 75 miles northeast of Smolensk, the great German base in Central Russia, means that the Russians have now outflanked Vyazma from the north. Ceaseless German Thrusts A great tank dnd infantry battle which may decide the fate of the whole of the South Russian front is raging on the muddy plains before Kharkov. The fighting is growing in intensity every hour as the Germans ceaselessly thrust against the narrow front. The German counter-offensive aiming to retake the city began on February 21, employing a total of about 200,000 men, half of whom were reported to be fresh from the west, backed up by considerable armour. The Germans gained important successes in the early stages, but the Rus-

sian opposition is now stiffening, General Golikov bringing in every possible anti-tank gun and' anti-tank rifle.

The Germans are fruitlessly doing their utmost to cross the North Donetz, which at the nearest point is 18 miles from Kharkov. The main German concentration is south of Kharkov. A heavy thrust is also being made against Kharkov from the Sumy railway. The German counter-offensive caught the Russian armoured spearheads “on the wrong foot,” beaause the suddep thaw prevented the main force from rapidly moving up to consolidate the spearheads’ gains. The spearheads, however, put up a stubborn resistance, enabling the main force to take up their positions before Kharkov. The transEort problem is probably still difficult, ecause the Red Army before the thaw largely relied on road transport for its 350-mile push from the Volga. The Germans appear to hold 'the initiative over a front extending 100 miles to the south of Kharkov, but the Red Army forces retain the initiative on other sectors of the Russian front.

To-day’s German High Command communique states: The German attack to the west and north-west of Kharkov continues to gain ground. Our attacking divisions reached the objectives set for the day. The communique refers to embittered Russian counter-attacks.

Mr Morley Richards, writing in the Daily Express, says the despatch of German troops from the central front to the Donetz may explain the Nazi success in the south and the Russian success in the centre. Examining the German advance to the Donetz, Mr Richards says there is no reason to believe that Kharkov is in danger. Second Front Campaign With the German army counter-at-tacking in the Donetz the Soviet press has reopened the campaign for a second front. The newspaper Pravda says that because there is ho second front Hitler is bringing reserves from France, Holland, and the other occupied countries to the Russian front. The military correspondent of the New York newspaper P.M. says the strengthened German resistance is due to the transference of a large number of Nazi troops from Western Europe. It adds: “This is significant, as most were reserves held in readiness to meet a second front.” The Germans have established defence positions between Riga and Odessa, which run parallel to the westernmost bank of the Dnieper through White Russia to the Black Sea. Almost all military observers believe that this is the line on which Hitler will make his most heroic effort. These fortifications are the last ditch. If the Nazis are forced back that far they will have relinquished Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Donetz Basin, and the Ukraine —practically every inch of ground within the Soviet frontiers. They will not do this without a struggle of epic proportions.