BATTLE FOR KHARKOV

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25302, 12 August 1943, Page 5

BATTLE FOR KHARKOV

HEAVY BLOWS ON FLANKS (Rec. 1.40 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 11. German tank and infantry reserves from other parts of the front have been rushed to the Kharkov area to try to stem or slow down the Russian drive, but they have failed appreciably to affect the Red Army’s progress. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says that the Russians, sweeping from Byelgorod, have now advanced more than eight miles north-west of Kharkov. The newspaper Red Star says that the Russians are striking heavy surprise blows against the flanks of the enemy in the Kharkov sector. The Germans at one point west of Kharkov took panic, and the breach in their line was widened. Military observers in Stockholm, says Reuter’s correspondent, forecast the occupation of Kharkov before the week-end. The main Red armies standing around Kharkov on three sides are within between 7 and 12 miles of the city. If the Germans stiffened their resistance they could delay »the occupation of Kharkov for a week or more, but they appear to be unwilling to sacrifice the picked divisions defending the city, which are already fighting a heavy rearguard action to enable the main units to retreat.