CAUCASUS POCKET

Otago Daily Times, Volume 25205, Issue 25205, 20 April 1943, Page 3

CAUCASUS POCKET

FIGHTING IN KUBAN AREA GERMANS USING RESERVES LONDON, Apl. 18. The Kuban war front remains the most active, according to both Russian and German sources, but it is not clear whether the fighting there is on a larger scale than was previously believed or whether the Kuban is given prominence because of the comparative lull on the other land fronts. The Russians and Germans are each claiming Kuban successes, the Russians announcing the failure of the German counter-attacks and the Germans saying that the Russian mass attacxs have collapsed. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent reported that fierce fighting was raging in the Kuban, with the Germans throwing in reserves and attacking at various points with big tank and Infantry forces strong supported by the Luftwaffe. The Moscow correspondent of The Times said violent German and Rumanian attacks failed to dislodge the Russian forward elements from ground gained in the first day of the resumed offensive against the Germans’ final foothold in the Kuban. It is clear, says the correspondent, that the battles for the Taman Peninsula will be fiercely contested. Air-power and the ability of the infantry to resist its blows will decide the issue. Russians Maintain Pressure Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the Russians appear to be keeping up the pressure against the Germans in the Caucasus pocket, but the newspaper Red Star reports thafc the Germans have thrown in reserves and are attacking at various points with big infantry forces and tanks. Fierce air battles are going on along the whole front. The Russians undoubtedly will throw the Germans from the Taman Peninsula, although there is stiff fighting ahead of them, says Reuter’s correspondent. The Germans on the Donetz front have not given up their bid to capture the important Soviet bridgeheads on the right bank of the river, and the Russians are watching the position carefully. The newspaper Izvestia says the Germans still have considerable air resources, and the danger of air raids has not passed. The whole population of Moscow must spare no efforts to improve the anti-aircraft defences. The civil defence services must maintain absolute readiness. The increased striking power of the Red Army during the war is revealed in a Red Star review of the two crucial battles at Moscow and Stalingrad. In the first battle the Russians had 15 tank brigades against five panzer aivisions, whereas in the Stalingrad offensive they had five corps of tanks and mechanised troops and 10 detached brigades against five panzer divisions. In the later stages of the offensives the Russians had eight tank and mechanised corps. The Russians had gained air superiority in several sectors with planes made during the war, including a new type of dive-bomber. The Russians had also maintained absolute technical and tactical superiority in artillery. The Soviet Air Force also opened new schools for bombing German towns. Russian Girl Air Ace Madame Katherine Budanova, the 25-year-old Russian girl air ace, i» spending her first leave in Moscow, reports Reuter’s correspondent in the Soviet capital. This brown-haired good-looking slip of a girl won the Red Banner for prowess in the battle for Stalingrad. She is one of the three airwomen who fought in air battle* from the early days of August to the surrender of General Paulus. She shot down three German planes singlehanded and three more in a group attack. Her latest fighting has been near Rostov, on the Don. Madame Budanova told Reuter’s Russian correspondent that men pilots first viewed airwomen with distrust, which was dispelled after the first operational fight. “ Men now know that we are most reliable, most loyal, and very tough,” she said.