COUNTER-THRUST EXPECTED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25173, 13 March 1943, Page 5

COUNTER-THRUST EXPECTED

(Rec. 2 a.m.) LONDON, Mar. 12. The Red Army is believed to be on the point of launching a great counter-attack against the German ■ thrust menacing Kharkov, says Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent. The counter-attack will be the main thrust of a triple offensive on the southern front. The other Russian attacks will be made in the Donetz and Kuban areas. The Paris radio claims that a single German artillery unit on the Kharkov front has pierced the Russian lines to a depth of 20 miles. Motorised units have enlarged the breach and encircled the enemy positions.

A Berlin military spokesman reports bitter battles in the Orel sector. The Germans say that the Russians have launched mass attacks with infantry apd tanks, the pressure being particularly heavy east and south of Orel, where heavy fighting is continuing on a wide front. Moscow reports state that the Rusgjans have seized a number of towns and villages south of Lake Ilmen, and have captured large quantities of enemy material. Violent fighting continues in this area. The Germans before Kharkov are losing 30 to 40 tanks every day. They are repeating the tactics they adopted before Stalingrad—namely, a rotation of assaults, which is a costly process for them, but equally imposes a continual maximum burden upon the defenders. Official reports confirm that the Germans have succeeded in massing considerable local superiority in infantry and tanks. The Germans are throwing in one panzer spearhead after another in an attempt to cross the Donetz River. Russian divebombers and guns no sooner smash one pontoon bridge than the Germans build another. Similarly, when one group of- German tanks is turned back by anti-tank fire another rolls into battle. It is thought in Moscow,' says Reuter’s correspondent, that Kharkov may become another Stalingrad. It is

pointed out that it was south of Stalingrad that the Germans launched their desperate counter-attack to relieve General Paulus’s trapped forces. Similarly the Germans switched their main fresh forces south of Kharkov. Soviet resistance so far has proved tough, but the situation is tense. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says that, having failed to encircle the Russian forces, the Germans are now regrouping south-west of Kharkov and attacking the Russian positions with unabated violence. They are probing for weak spots for a drive to Kharkov. Furious fighting is raging everywhere. To-day’s German communique states: “ Our assault division in the Kharkov area drove the enemy back towards the town proper. Fighting is going on in the northern and western borders of the town.” The Germans captured Byeloi in October. 1941, after bitter fighting. The Russians retook the town by a cleverlyplanned outflanking move, as the town ' was too heavily fortified for direct assault. The Soviet Command first paralysed the weaker sectors with sudden flank thrusts by ski troops from the thick forest, whence the Germans least expected the blow. Other troops captured strongly-built redoubts, and eventually surrounded the town. The Russians, taking advantage of the garrison’s confusion, then attacked on force, capturing the town after a brief but fierce engagement.