MADE BY THE SOVIET ARMIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 December 1942, Page 3

MADE BY THE SOVIET ARMIES

In Encircling Operations in South Russia INCREASING THREAT TO ENEMY KEY BASE OF ROSTOV GERMANS THROWN BACK IN DEFEAT SOUTHWEST OF STALINGRAD LONDON, December 28. In their great encircling attacks in Southern Russia, Soviet troops are still pressing" forward in the Middle Don area and are now only 70 miles distant from Rostov, the key supply base for the enemy troops in Southern Russia, both west of Stalingrad and in the Caucasus. It is not yet clear whether the Soviet troops which have reached this point are those advancing' from the north or those pushing across from the east. Millerovo, 130 miles to the north of Rostov, has been almost encircled. The Russians have captured a village two miles east of Millerovo. Fifty miles south of Millerovo is the important railway town of Kamenskaya. Russian troops which bypassed Millerovo are now nearing Kamenskaya and another big' Russian force is closing- in from the east. All supplies and reinforcements for the enemy armies in Southern Russia must pass through Rostov and Kamenskaya commands the main railway lines running from Moscow to Rostov by way of both Voronezh and Stalingrad. THE SOVIET’S MIDDLE DON OFFENSIVE IS TWELVE DAYS OLD AND HAS ALREADY GAINED A GREAT DEAL OF GROUND. CORRESPONDENTS SAY IT IS STILL GOING STRONG. THERE IS NO SIGN OF A BIG GERMAN STAND. ALTHOUGH THERE IS FIERCE OPPOSITION THERE IS NO LARGE-SCALE OR WIDESPREAD RESISTANCE. THE MIDDLE DON OFFENSIVE IN SOME PLACES IS SEPARATED FROM THE STALINGRAD OFFENSIVE BY ONLY 50 MILES. THE RUSSIAN OFFENSIVES ARE NOV/ REVEALED AS A BOLD TACTICAL STROKE AIMED AT UPSETTING THE WHOLE GERMAN POSITION IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA. A correspondent points out that ( as important as the land recaptured by the Soviet is the huge number of casualties inflicted on the enemy in men and material. As many as 100,000 Axis troops have been killed or captured, the equivalent of many divisions wounded, and huge supplies of booty taken. South-west of Stalingrad the German armies which recently were trying to relieve the forces trapped round Stalingrad are still retreating and a Soviet communique reports an advance of ten miles, the recapture of a long string of places and the wiping out of thousands more of the enemy troops. The Russians are still advancing in the Caucasus, in spite of fog and heavy rain.