GERMAN ASSAULT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25241, 2 June 1943, Page 3

GERMAN ASSAULT

CENTRAL RUSSIA EFFORT TO STRAIGHTEN LINE LONDON, May 31. The Berlin radio stated that German troops early to-day la i nched an attack west of Velizh (about 300 miles west of Moscow), with the object of straightening the line on a fairly large front. Enemy resistance was fierce, but the Germans dislodged the Russians from their positions and reached the lines they were ordered to take. The Russian counter-attacks failsd. The Berlin radio also reported that artillery fire was increasing in all sectors. The artillery was very active, even on the Arctic front. Although the Russians made only cursory references to the Kuban fighting, Berlin to-day claimed that the recent three-day battle in the Kuban was one of. the hardest fought anywhere on the eastern front. A German front line reporter, broadcasting on the Berlin radio, declared: “ The Russians rained down 30,000 shells and dropped 10,000 bombs cyi the

German positions. Russian squadrons at night flew close formation that collision was the pilots’ greatest risk.” The reporter added that the Kuban struggle was a huge battle of supplies, implying that the Germans thus far had won it. The Berlin radio stated that continued Russian attempts’.yesterday to penetrate the rear of the German defensive front by landing from ths Sea oi Azov through the lagoon area at the mouth of the Kuban River again failed owing to the alertness of special Luftwaffe. formations, whose bombs and machine-gun fire sank 15 fully-laden landing craft and two freighters. . The Exchange Telegraph correspondent in Zurich says that neutral' correspondents in Berlin are drawing attention to the fact that the German War Office spokesmen are emphasising that the Russians possess material superiority of 10-1 on the Kuban front. Correspondents say this has given rise to the supposition that the evacuation of Novorossisk is about to begin. Fighting again flared uo around the Mid-Donetz bridgeheads. The German News Agency reported that the Russians launched two attacks in the Lisichansk area, and added that very heavy artillery and mortar fire strongly supported the attacks.