NAZI ATTACKS INTENSIFIED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25175, 16 March 1943, Page 3

NAZI ATTACKS INTENSIFIED

EBB AND FLOW

VALIANT DEFENDERS RUGBY, Mar. 14. M. Stalin’s armies defending Kharkov have stood up to another day of terrific hammering from the enemy. German attacks have been intensified from the west, the north, and the south-east. While the battle is at its height little reliable news is coming through, but the Germans again claimed to-day to have captured Kharkov after launching attacks from the north and east. They state that mop-ping-up operations in the city are m progress. Messages from Moscow do not clear up the situation, these speaking only of heavy fighting and of attacks in the east and north. Further north in the central sector the Russians continue to advance, and claim to have crossed the upper reaches of the Dnieper and to have cleared , the Germans from a number of strong-points on the west bank ot the river. Fighting around Kharkov is still increasing in ferocity, according to this morning’s communique supplement, and the Russian troops are heroically repelling the attacks of numerically superior enemy tanks and infantry forces. Fresh Enemy Divisions The Germans are throwing in fresh divisions just arrived from Western Europe, says the newspaper Red Star. These have the support of masses of tanks. It adds: “The defenders of Kharkov are giving the Reichswehr the fiercest battles of the war, and a number of positions are changing hands repeatedly. The Germans are trying to advance at any cost, but are up against determined resistance. The fighting is especially bitter north of the city, where a German outflanking manoeuvre failed to materialise. Although the enemy succeeded in capturing a number of settlements, he was stopped by strong Russian counterattacks. The battle continues in this sector, with every inch of ground stubbornly contested.” A further Moscow message describes the continued bitter fighting in the Don basin, particularly the Izyum area, where enemy pressure is meeting with a resistance comparable with that of the defenders of Moscow. The Russian drive west and south of Vyazma (some 90 miles east-north-east of Smolensk) continues with success. South of the town about 20 localities have been occupied, including the railway station at Medinsky-Zavod. South of Byeloi (north of Smolensk) the Russians occupied a number of localities. The Russian objective on this front appears to be to drive wedges into the enemy defences, split his lines into parallel sectors, and hold him under constant threat of encirclement. Russian pressure is heaviest along the Moscow-Minsk highway in the direction of Smolensk. Valiant Defenders

The terrific battle for Kharkov, although critical, has not yet reached a’ climax. The defenders, hard pressed on all sides, are battling valiantly against ferocious attacks which are gaining force every hour. Simultaneously the Red Army, which captured Vyazma, has swept on to the fringes of the forest belt 50 miles east of Smolensk, which is now threatened with envelopment. . The antagonists thus continue to maintain the utmost pressure in advances which menace valuable strategic points in their opponents’ line. There has hitherto been no indication that either colossal attack has affected the power with which the Russians or the Germans are carrying on their respective offensives. The Russians admit the ; neril .in which the Germans have placed Kharkov, asserting that they are continually throwing in fresh troops from the west. Russian newspapers, re-echoing the adjurations of the heroic epoch of Stalingrad, declare: “ We can, and must, hurl back the German onslaught on Kharkov and the Donetz . basin, no matter what the cost.”

Judged from the Red Army’s experience at Voronezh and Stalingrad, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent, the Germans are capable of keeping up the pressure they are putting on Kharkov for a fortnight. But only five days have elapsed since the start of the real onslaught against Kharkov, where the Russians are again facing a typical big-scale German panzer movement. : C. Much depends on the ability of the defenders to concentrate sufficient gun power at points to which the Germans switch and reconcentrate their armour. Much of the terrain over which the fighting is going on is roadless. The thaw necessitates tanks using the better roads, which to some extent is assisting the Russian gunners. In spite of being forced to yield ground to the north and west of Kharkov —where the position is still not clear—the Russians have apparently stemmed strong German thrusts, but masses of German tanks are still battering the Russian flanks. In addition, 60 miles to the south the Red Army is desperately resisting German attempts to force a passage of the Donetz in the Izyum area, where success would turn the Kharkov defences. The Russians everywhere are fighting with heroism worthy of tpe Red Army’s traditions, concludes Reuter’s correspondent. The newspaper Red Star says a new danger to Kharkov is developing from the north, where a big German force hak been attacking for several days. The Germans occupied several villages, but the Russians thus far have held off the enemy sufficiently to prevent an outflanking move. Enemy pressure is increasing, and in the past 24 hours the Russians were obliged to withdraw at several points. »