TRAPPED ARMY’S PROSPECTS

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXI, Issue 15237, 30 December 1942, Page 3

TRAPPED ARMY’S PROSPECTS

T OSITION RAPIDL Y DETE R 1 ORATING. United Press Assn.—By EJcctrm. Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, December 28. The Russians have mad© a further advance on the middle Don front, where, according to ' the Times’ Moscow correspondent, the corridor through which the German southern armies are supplied, is now narrowed to -about 100 miles. How many Germans remain in the eastern part of the great Don bend between the trans-Don railway and the lower stretches of the river, is uncertain, but tho situation developing promises the capture of a large area. The correspondent says th© trapped armies positions here are rapidly deteriorating. There are Indications that th© Russians are beginning to hammer harder both from th© air and from tbe ground. Th©. distance German relief 'planes have to fly has been doubled in tbe last week as th© Luftwaffe cannot risk using airfields close to the front, where Russian tanks are audaciously thrusting through. The Daily Express’ correspondent at 'Stockholm says Russian official reports at present are veiling all operations but it is clear part of the army is pushing south-west-wards towards the giant industrial Donetz city of Voroshilovgrad. A late cable from Moscow reports that the Russians today captured Sharnutovsky, 22 miles east of Kotelnikovo, and Verkhneablonsky, 15 miles north of Kotelnikovo. Tho Russians claim more successes' on tbe central front in the Velikiy© Luki area where four more inhabited localities were retaken. They have also advanced in th© Caucasus, south-west of Nalchik, where an important height was occupied. Tho Berlin radio, reporting the temperature on the Russian front during Christmas as between four and 22 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) said: “This marks tbe beginning of this year’s great cold in tbe East.” A later message states that Renter’s Moscow correspondent estimates tbe losses of tho Germans and their vassals since the beginning of tb© Soviet autumn offensives at about 400,000 killed and taken prisoner. Tbe losses in tanks and planes are sufficiently high to present an awkward problem for the Germans.