RUSSIANS MASSING FOR ALL-OUT BLOW

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22214, 6 March 1942, Page 5

RUSSIANS MASSING FOR ALL-OUT BLOW

Reserves Now Ready for Action

’Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Mar. 4. According to messages from Switzerland, the Russians are massing all their forces for an all-out blow at the Germans. A German aerial reconnaissance gives the same picture, as the war reporters have repeatedly pointed out—the massing of troops on the Russian side of the front under protection of the Red Air Force, and movements on all railway lines and supply lines to the front. This means that the German Air Force has devoted its entire energy to an attempt to disrupt communications. The newspaper “Pravda” says that a big batch of trained Russian reserves is now ready to go into action. They will be used to deal the final blow at the retreating Germans. General Guderian refused General Boldin’s demand for the surrender of Orel after a most complete Russian encirclement, says the Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” The ultimatum was conveyed by two officers in a 52-ton tank carrying a white flag. An hour after the departure of the Russian emissaries the guns of the Red Army opened an offensive against Orel. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says the encircled German army in Staraya Russa is still fighting for its life. The Russians are vigorously maintaining a land and air blockade. Both sides will probably be reinforced, the Russians from the Valdai Hills and the Germans from the Baltic States. If the Germans are forced back they will probably completely evacuate the Leningrad area to avoid being trapped. The strength of the Russians in the Lake Ilmen area suggests that this is Russia’s strategy. The Russians are now moving across Lake Ilmen on the Ice. A Soviet communique states: Our troops fought stubbornly against the enemy yesterday and occupied various places in several sectors. On Tuesday

18 enemy aircraft were destroyed. We lost six. Moscow reports state that the Rus-/ sians are pursuing and annihilating the remainder of the German 16th Army. The Germans are using transport planes on a mass scale to make up for deficiencies in railway and road transport, but the Soviet Air Force is attacking the German aerodromes and bringing down dozens of planes almost daily. Guerrillas carried out a daring attack on the north-western front on a village railway station, where there was a big German garrison. They killed 850 Germans and took 40 prisoners. Having destroyed large quantities of ammunition, captured much booty and destroyed a bridge, the guerrillas disappeared. The Moscow radio says that 51 supply planes for the Germans in Staraya Russa have been shot down in the last 10 days, while the Russians are incessantly bombing the plane bases. The Russians on the Smolensk front, in a battle for an important populated place, wiped out two battalions of infantry. The Moscow correspondent of "The Times” reveals that Russian parachutists are infiltrating the enemy’s rear and linking up with the guerrillas. German Defences Broken The Russians are deeply thrusting into German positions in the Staraya Russa region. Sixty thousand Germans now remain of the original 96.000 trapped in this area, says a Stockholm message. There are 100 Gerwin staff officers in Staraya Russa. The Russian Political Commissar (M. Korobko) announced that the German defences on the Leningrad front have been broken at two vital points. In one sector on this front the Russians wiped out a German division brought up by air. The Germans are already withdrawn behind their third defence line preparatory for the spring offensive. He added that Britain and America are fulfilling successfully their obligations to supply to the Soviet. “Whatever the events in the Pacific and the Mediterranean, they play an auxiliary part, for the main front remains in the East,” said the Commissar.