VITAL BATTLE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 116, 20 May 1942, Page 5

VITAL BATTLE

RUSSIAN THREAT TO UKRAINE NAZIS USE RESERVES London, May 18.® The great battle in the Kharkov area continues with unabated fury, says the Stockholm correspondent of The Times. Berlin says that the Russians have managed to score several local successes, but claims that the Germans and Rumanians have the situation under control. Tiie conviction has already taken root that the battle is the most vital since General Zhukov halted the German offensive against Mosi cow in December. The most rei cent German references show that the High Command realises that i the fate of the whole of the Gerl man plans is staked on its result. Even if Marshal Timoshenko does not take Kharkov, he may break the offensive power of the German armies which are arrayed in the south for the drive eastwards. | The Moscow correspondent of The ; Times expresses the opinion that the i whole of the Donetz Basin in the I eastern Ukraine is threatened by Mar- ’ shal Timoshenko’s advances. The Ger- ' mans have switched their reserves to i the Kharkov front, but the Prussian I mastery of the air is still decisive. A Moscow correspondent, referring i to the tank battles, says that Russian j experts spent a considerable time ; studying how to deal with tanks, and I have complete confidence in their : weapons, especially the light mobile I anti-tank rifle. Brave fighters handle . this long-barrelled and curious-looking j weapon, letting the tanks come near. i and then riddling them. A prisoner taken by the Russians revealed that only very small numbers of Germans remain in France, nearly all having been ' sent to the Eastern Front. i Mos- ow radio says that a message i from the Kharkov front states that I the Russians crossed a large river and i captured a strategic inhabited locality. Three units of German parachutists | were annihilated with sabres when i they landed in the rear of the Rus- • sian lines, The Russians repulsed an I attack by 120 German tanks and deI stroyed o 9 of them. : Another Moscow message states i that the Germans are moving in an j ever-growing number of tanks on the I Kharkov front. Infantry are operati ing from armoured tank trailers, and I parachutists, supported by the LuftI waffe, are repeatedly counter-attack-ing in a vein effort to stem the RusI sian advance. | A supplementary communique deali ing with Russian captures of war booty on various fronts concludes with i a reference to the activities of guer- | rillas in the Smolensk district, where j in three months they killed 2000 Ger- | mans, set lire to three ammunition ■ clumps, an oil store, a l nd an equipment | store, derailed four trains, and de- ; stroyed or captured large quantities of I other war material. The latest German reports from the ; Kharkov front concede that the Rus- | sians have encircled a German base i which is believed to be one of the fortifications of the inner defence I zone, says Reuter's Stockholm corre- ’ spondent. The Germans say that the : fighting is growing more violent. They i are counter-attacking with powerful ; masses of armoured forces in an endeavour to recapture lost ground ■ directly east cf Kharkov city. The Russians in the Kerch Peninsula are reported to have broken out of the German encirclement and to be still holding the coastal region at Yenikale. The Russians bitterly defended the town of Kerch. The whole terrain was literally covered with hidden mines, which were exploded by distant contact at most unexpected places. sovieTTdvance GAINING MOMENTUM (Recd. 11 p.m.) London. May 19. Moscow radio says the German counter-attacks on the Kharkov front yesterday and to-day were much fiercer than the first days of the I battle and fighting is growing more : bitter daily. The enemy is bringing up more and more mechanised forces, ■ but Russian gunners, tanks and ini fantrv are smashing these reinforcei ments. The Soviet advance is gaining momentum. The Luftwaffe is on ti e j defensive. Crashed Messerschmitts j and Heinkels are scattered in the 1 fields of collective farms. The roads Io Kharkov are strewn with the rei mains of tanks and vehicles.