STIFF GERMAN RESISTANCE

Southland Times, Issue 24755, 28 May 1942, Page 5

STIFF GERMAN RESISTANCE

Russian Advances

(Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 26. The Moscow correspondent of The Times quotes a dispatch from Kharkov saying that the enemy is holding on to every inch of territory with his teeth and not counting the cost in men and material. The Russians, nevertheless, are making advances, ousting the enemy from favourable natural defence lines. Concerning the battle for Kharkov, the Moscow correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency states that the Germans renewed their attempts to land para-troops in the Soviet reay, also to aid an encircled garrison. (This is the first mention of a German garrison being encircled). The Russians shot down three planes carrying paratroops yesterday and destroyed a large number of para-troops before they grounded. _ The correspondent adds that the Germans are sending waves of tank units into numerous counter-attacks, but the Russian forces are unshakeable. Reuters Moscow correspondent says the German mass attempts to cross an unnamed river on the IsyumBarenkova sector were repulsed after fierce fighting, 1200 Germans being killed. The Germans in another sector on this front threw in 50 tanks and two infantry regiments. Russian tank units brought the attack to a standstill, while an artillery unit annihilated more than 1000 Germans. The Russians smashed a German drive in a sector on the Kalinin front, passed to the offensive and recaptured three villages and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. The British United Press Moscow correspondent quotes a Stockholm report that Hitler summoned his leading generals to tell them that he would not tolerate their demands and that he would relinquish the position of com-mander-in-chief. INVASION OF EUROPE ADVOCATED NEW YORK, May 26. American newspaper correspondents who have returned from Europe believe that an invasion of the Continent is a prerequisite to victory. They consider the internal collapse of Germany is unlikely. Correspondents from the Middle East predict that the Nazis will make a supreme effort to capture the oil supplies of the Caucasus, Iran and Iraq this year. If such a drive succeeds, a Nazi junction with the Japanese in India is inevitable, and it will prolong the war for many years. This German move may.be frustrated if the Russian can keep the Germans preoccupied from the Black Sea to Murmansk.