FIGHTING MORE INTENSE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22204, 23 February 1942, Page 5

FIGHTING MORE INTENSE

STEADY RUSSIAN PROGRESS Germans Admit Broken Lines By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (9.22 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 21. Fighting on all fronts in Russia has now reached greater intensity than the communiques suggest, says the Moscow correspondent of “The Times.” The Berlin radio admits that Russian infantry and tanks penetrated the German lines in some sectors of the northern and central fronts but suffered heavy losses, particularly on the central front where fighting is proceeding in very deep snow. According to Moscow press reports Russian troops operating in one sector of the Kalinin front crossed a river at night and drove a deep wedge into tl.e German lines and held their positions in spite of heavy counter-attacks. Exceptionally heavy fighting is in progress in this sector where the Germans are desperately hanging on as long as possible to every strongpoint ana dugout. The Russians in one sector of ths Leningrad front are advancing rapidly. One unit captured 12 villages and isolated a large number of Germans. Competent observers believe that the increased Russian pressure will Lrar fruit. The Germans state that they intend to hold Leningrad, Rjev, Viazma, Orel, Kursk and Kharkov in readiness for the spring offensive. They have managed to do so hitherto but their position is none too secure. A Berlin spokesman claims that Lie Russian winter offensive is already ebbing. No more great attacks are to be expected which will in any wise alter the general operative position. The Russians have exhausted themselves by senseless winter efforts. The "Red Star” reports that a Spanish volunteer ski detachment was badly mauled on the Leningrad front. The Germans sent the detachment <o relieve a beleaguered German unit. The Spaniards preferred to waddle through snow to wrestling with skis and half of the detachment was lost in the initial approach to the Russian lines. The remainder encountered a Russian sapper unit which killed many more with trench tools. The physical condition of the Spaniards was poor and their clothing was Inadequate. Soviet Successes A Soviet communique states: “Russians overcoming stubborn resistance yesterday advanced and occupied several places. On the previous day 24 enemy aircraft were shot down in air fighting and seven were destroyed on the ground. The Russians lost 12. A Soviet air unit on Thursday inflicted heavy damage on the enemy including the dispersing of four enemy infantry battalions. An army unit commanded by General Lysenko during four days killed more than 800 Germans and captured a large quantity of materials.” The communique gives a statement by a German senior army surgeon to the commander of an infantry division that only 15 per cent of German soldiers are entirely fit for service while 40 per cent have slight defects and me remainder are unfit to carry on for more than a short time. The communique also states that more blockhouses near Leningrad have been captured. Moscow announces that the State Defence Committee (War Cabinet) has been joined by the famous industrial organiser M. Lazar Kaganoich, Commissar for Railways. Frustration of Offensive The frustration of Hitler’s proposed spring offensive, resulting in the complete crushing of the enemy in 1942, is forecast by “Red Star.” The enemy talk of a spring offensive is premature while the winter campaign is at its summit. More than a dozen German divisions will be buried in snow and we will advance far westward before the spring. German power and technique are now weaker than last summer and the Russian Army and industry are more powerful. British and Russian resources of manpower are incomparably greater than those of Germany and her Allies, while British and American aid to the Soviet is growing ceaselessly, and no doubt, aiming at the speediest rout of the enemy, the military efforts of our Allies will also grow. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says that prisoners taken on the Leningrad front included ~'utch soldiers who declared they were originally taken to Germany as factory workers and then forcibly mobilised.