HEAVY LOSSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25280, 17 July 1943, Page 5

HEAVY LOSSES

ENEMY DIVISIONS ROUTED TERRIFIC RUSSIAN FIRE <Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, July 15. “In the course of the offensive,” a Russian communique says, “ our troops routed the 56th, 262nd and 293rd German Infantry Divisions and the sth and 15th German Tank Divisions. Heavy losses were inflicted on the ll2th, 208th, and 211th German Infan--Iry Divisions, and the 25th and 36th German Motorised Divisions. In three a ays over 12,000 enemy troops were killed and Aver 2000 taken prisoner. Our troops captured booty, including 40 tanks, 210 guns, 187 mortars, and destroyed 109 tanks, 294 planes, 47 guns. The offensive is continuing.” The British United Press military writer says the new Russian blow will have brought the Red Army within striking distance of the main north-

south railway from Smolensk through Bryansk to Kharkov. In two areas in which the Russians advanced they in three days occupied over 1000 square miles. It is not likely that any German position would be defended in depth to as much as 12 to 18 miles, which is the extent of the Russian advance east and north of Orel. The advance east from Orel may have brought the Russians to the outskirts of Orel itself. North of Orel they are now within 20 miles of Bryansk. Russian troops are developing their initiative, and are slowly but steadily pushing the Germans out of the territory they lost in the Byelgorod area in the first push of the German offensive. The Stockholm correspondent of The Times says that German messages from the front emphasise the terrible weight of the Russian artillery fire in the Orel sector. One report admits that the Russians are superior in artillery and have apparently inexhaustible supplies of ammunition for guns of every calibre, including an astonishing number of the heaviest type. Another report says a new type of gun which is not known to the German Army has been in action on the Orel front, with great effect.