RESISTANCE ON MIDDLE FRONT

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXII, Issue 15240, 5 January 1943, Page 3

RESISTANCE ON MIDDLE FRONT

SWEDISH REPORTS OF NAZI STAND. United Pi ess Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, January 3. The Stockholm correspondent of the Times says that the capture of Velikive Luki is the most notable recent Russian achievement pn the middle front, but it does not, end tilt* battle on that front. Nothing resembling a German landslide is < xpected. The Germans’ prevarication concerning the loss of Velikiy o Luki is apparently based on their regarJing Velikiye Luki. Novel and Sokolniki. at the angles of the railway lines a«s a single fortress area, of which one angle only has been lopped off and the lines shortened to defend-Novel and 'Sokolniki. These are not likely to fall without a hard battle. They are backed by the i Minified Baltic railways, by which reinforcements can bo rapidly so~ (ured. The Russians are now approaching the Valdai Hills and thi i frozen Kholm Marshes, which last winter proved an impassable barrier. If they are now broken anywhere, it will he noteworthy in the Russian offensive, but both westward and southward the German rear communications are among the best *n Russia. Below the Sokolniki fortress, tin* Germans possess similar, larger and stronger defences in the SmolenskOrcha Vitebsk railway triangle. The Rjev-Velikiye .Luki offensive now threatens this line, but Smolensk cannot bo menaced until the Russians move from Kaluga, about 150 uiihs south-east of Smolensk.