GERMAN BASTIONS FALLING

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22470, 4 January 1943, Page 5

GERMAN BASTIONS FALLING

Velikiye Luki Captured By Russians

Fresh Advances On All

Fronts

British Official Wireless

(Received 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, January 1. iVITHIN a few minutes of the German radio statement ’’ that “on almost all sectors of the Eastern Front comparative calm prevails’’ came a special Russian communique announcing, among other important gains, tthe capture of the two important railway towns of Velikiye Luki, the German “fortress centre” west of Rzhev on the central front, and Elista, capital of the Kalmuk Republic, 180 miles to the south of Stalingrad , and the same distance westward of Astrakhan. With the capture of Velikiye Luki by the Russians, the German armies have lost one of their four main bastions on the central front. Velikiye Luki was taken at the bayonet point. The Russians began to storm the city at dawn with a hurricane of artillery and mortar fire, after which masses of infantry and tanks poured through breaches in the fortifications. Russian artillerymen took guns deep into the defences and silenced forts and machine-gun nests with direct fire. The next phase was a series of savage street battles. The Germans resisted from house to house as the Russians attacked under smokescreens. The Red Army captured an order signed by General Sherer threatening that any German who ceased fighting would be shot and his family penalised.

The handsome city has changed beyond recognition. Libraries, hospitals, club houses, colleges and schools have been destroyed. Only the women and children were left. They crept from cellars to greet the Red Army.

Reuter’s Moscow correspondent rays the capture of Velikiye Luki places the Russians astride the Sokolniki-Rzhev-Moscow railway, one of the main German supply lines from the Reich, via Riga, at a more westerly point than previously reached. The Russians now have a possibility of thrusting westward against Sokolniki on the Leningrad-Vitebsk railway. Hitler’s principal rail link between Leningrad and the central front. The German chances of holding Rzhev through the remaining three months of the winter have greatly lessened. Berlin radio denied that Velikiye Luki had fallen, and added that almost all sectors of the eastern front were comparatively calm, with only local engagements on the Terek and Kalmuk Steppes between the Volga and the Don. How near the Germans were to rescuing von Hoth’s trapped divisions south-west of Stalingrad is told by the Moscow correspondent of "The Times." Von Manstein's drive on December 12 was only halted after a violent struggle and the Stalingrad-Tikhoretsk railway, on the River Aksai between the Don Powerful German forces, using 600 tanks, in 12 days at terrible cost advanced 36 miles. The Russian front sagged dangerously, but held, and important Russian reinforcements arrived on Christmas Eve enabling a counter-offensive in which tanks encircled, ambushed and harried the enemy. The battle swiftly moved to Kotelnlkovo, where the Germans hoped to stage a recovery, but the Russian impetus forestalled regrouping by the enemy. The Red Army recovered in three days what it lost in 12, and tanks and lorried infantry stormed Kotelnikovo. completing the German defeat. The Germans had reached halfway to their objectives, but before they were rolled back they had lost more than 26,000 killed and captured. The Russian spearheads are identlessly pushing the Germans from Kotelnikovo to Salysk, and also are closing in on Rostov. kteutcr’s Moscow correspondent says Uiit the Germans are suffering heavy casualties north-east of Tuapse, where they are losing ground, especially tactically important heights. The Black Sea fleet air arm is constantly supporting the Red Army, bombing German front lines. After a night dive-bombing attack on a German aerodrome, Russian parachutists landed on the aerodrome and destroyed 13 planes and damaged 10. Offensive Continues The Russian morning communique states—" During last night our troops in the area of the Middle Don. southeast of Stalingrad on the central front and in the Northern Caucasus continued to conduct offensive operations in the same direction as before.”

A sketch of the position on the various fronts was given in the morning

supplementary Russian communique, which shows that the Germans are retreating, leaving behind great quantities of material—weapons, ammunition and war equipment. The supplement states: "In the factory area of Stalingrad our troops occupied several houses and captured 39 enemy pillboxes and dugouts. North-westwards of Stalingrad, after a fierce engagement, our troops occupied several trenches and dug-outs. The enemy launched counter-attacks, but all were repelled. South-eastward of Stalingrad our troops continued the offensive and occupied several localities. Much Booty Captured “In the Middle Don area our troops continued the offensive. A Red Army unit broke enemy resistance and occupied favourable positions. On the central front our troops continued offensive operations, and on some sectors repelled enemy counter-attacks. During the occupation of Veliklye-Luki our troops captured a large amount >f booty. "Westward of Rzhev a large enemyforce launched several counter-attacks against our positions, but all were beaten off.” Warm appreciation is expressed in London by military observers of the dour Russian tenacity which lesulted in the fall of Velikiye Luki. It is not of great psychological value, but clearly releases Russian troops which can now turn round and look westwards. Strategically it is not considered that the town’s fall makes a great immediate difference. The railways all round have previously been cut, and the capture of the town does not necessarily open a new situation of great intensity. If, however, the Russians can cut the railway between Leningrad and Vitebsk at, for instance, Nevel or Sokolniki, that will be of great importance.

The Germans in desperation produced the bloodiest fighting of the war at Velikiye Luki, from where the Russians are already pressing on. They are also beating back the efforts of the enemy to break out westward of Rzhev, where the position has become worse since the fall of Velikiye Luki. The Russians to-day continued their attacks on five fronts extending over 1300 miles from Velikiye Luki to the Caucasus. The Red Army on the Middle Don is exploiting fast-moving tanks, and is using giant caterpillars admirably suited for movement over deep snow. Two Russian forces are converging on Tsymlyanskaya, and the advance on the Kalmuk Steppes continues. Russian mobile units cut off and badly mauled a German garrison retreating after the fall of Elista. Correspondents in Moscow say that Sherer’s warning that Germans who ceased to fight at Velikiye Luki would be shot and their families penalised was made at Hitler’s order, which also applies to Von Hoth’s troops.