PRESSURE BY RUSSIANS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 66, 19 March 1942, Page 5

PRESSURE BY RUSSIANS

EXERTED ON ENTIRE FRONT NEW SOVIET FORCES NOT YET USED (Ey TelegiapM—Press Association—Copyright.) London, March 1 7. The Russians are reported to be maintaining strong pressure along the entire front, in spite of the fact that a new cold spell is being felt over the country from end to end. Their attacks are said to be heaviest in the Crimea. To-day’s German communique speaks of hand-to-hand fighting and also refers to Russian attacks in the Kerch Peninsula.

The Moscow newspaper Pravda speaks of big battles developing in the Donetz area. This is probably part of Marshal Timoshenko’s aim at investing Kharkov. The paper also describes how the enemy was driven from a fortified village house by house, and how mueh war material was captured. Another key point in the Staraya Russa region has been captured by Soviet troops. Attempts to relieve the trapped German forces, this time by units from Latvia, are said to have failed. Moscow messages deny German reports that the Russians are using large forces of reserves in the present offensive; it is stated that the bulk of the new Soviet armies have not yet come into action. ENEMY SURPRISED IMPORTANT DEFENCE POINT LOST London, March 17. The German army entrapped at Staraya Russa has lost an imporlant defence point on its soul horn sector, says the Moscow radio. The Russians wiped out 1600 Germans and captured valuable booty. The Germans were taken by surprise, believing that the Russians were unable to reach the point before the thaw. The loss of the defence point is especially grave for the Germans, if. was one of their most important defences, situated on the southe n summit of a commanding height. The Germans had planned to keep he Russians in the valley, hoping that they would be bogged during the thaw, but the Russians succeeded in driving the defenders from the area and captured the village. A Stockholm message says that the Russians captured the place “P.” which is probably Pysjovka, ten miles east of Vyazma. All German attempts to relieve the 16th Army have failed. The Germans in the Donetz Basin lost 20.000 troops in one day. Swedish correspondents in Berlin have reported a new wave of cold on the Russian front. Snowstorms arc raging in the Crimea, where the temperature is below freezing point.

RENEWED PRESSURE RUSSIANS USING GREAT NUMBERS OF TANKS ENORMOUS RESERVES (Reed. 7.55 p.m.) London. March 17. Military circles in Berlin now admit the renewed Russian pressure along the whole front. They emphasise, says the Stockolm correspondent of The Times that great numbers of tanks were thrown into the battles, particularly in the south. Commentators say the Germans have not yet recognised a single tank of British or American construction, and express wonder at the productivity of Russian tank factories. If true, this shows that the Russians possess enormous tank reserves to meet the German spring offensive, including thousands From abroad, a fact which appears disquieting to German military circles. Brisk acuity is reported from the Schlusselburg and Leningrad front, and also more southward to Staraya Russa, where the Russians are inexorably battering the remnants of the 16th German Army. The fiercest middle front fighting at present is on lhe southern side of the Viazma-Rjev neck, on a broad front from the Kaluga-Viazma railway to the Dorogobuj region. The eastern end of this sector has further appreciably approached Viazma. The German position here appears desperate but Berlin has assured the troops that relief will come with a mighty surge in the spring, and therefore they must hold on at all costs. The Russians are making progress in the Orel. Kursk, and Kharkov sectors and the Donetz Basin, where unusually large operations are maturing. The Berlin radio admits heavy fighting on the Kerch Peninsula and says that one German division, between March 13 and 16. was obliged to fight off 64 heavy attacks, culminating in a violent barrage on March 16, after which the Russians made a mass attack supported bv tanks. AMERICANS AND RUSSIA LABOUR CO-OPERATION" New York. March 16. The American Federation of Labour is considering proposals by British trade union leaders that it should drop its long-standing opposition to cooperation with Soviet trade unionists. Reporting this, the New York Times says that the A.F.L. in the past, has maintained adamant opposition to proposals by the British and French labour movements to admit Russian unions into the International Federation of Trade Unions. The object, of British unionists is to enable lhe Labour movements of Britain, the United States, and Russia to join in the International Federation to help the United Nations’ war effort. Informed quarters say the A.F.L. leaders are favourably considering the proposals because popular ’feeling is that every contribution which Labour can make towards victory should be made regardless of ideological differences. A delegation of the United States labour leaders and employers is likely to be sent to England soon and possibly will go to Russia to visit armament plants.