ROLLING GERMANS BACK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 41, 19 February 1943, Page 5

ROLLING GERMANS BACK

GREAT RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE TAGANROG AND NOVOROSSISK MAY BE NEXT TO FALL (By Telegraph—PreM Association—Ccpyrightl (Becd. 8 p.m.) London, Feb. 17. As ths great Russian offensive moves to the end of the third month Stalin’s armies, following up their brilliant series of victories, are rolling the Germans back all along the 400-mile front from Kursk to the Sea of Azov. Russian troops who yesterday stormed and captured Kharkov arc to-day hot on the heels of the routed enemy forces west of the city. The Germans are making desperate efforts to repair the great gaps torn in their line. They have brought up large panzer formations, and big tank battles are raging this morning on the plains beyond the city. In the first stages of these battles more than 1000 Germans have been killed and 43 German tanks knocked out. The German resistance here is obviously intended as a screen for the escape of the main Kharkov garrison now retreating to the west, but, even if they wanted to, they are getting no chance to reform, as fast Soviet columns are right on their heels.

The country over which the Germans are fleeing is barren and offers little cover. At the southern end of the front Taganrog is increasingly threatened by the Russian advance along the coastal road from Rostov, and last night advanced Soviet columns were only 17 miles away. Discussing the retreat from Kharkov, a correspondent says that no one knows where the fleeing Germans are making for. They are retreating over bad country, and for a partially disorganised army it must seem like the end of the world. For many of the troops it will be. A Moscow report says that the Russians, pushing on from Kharkov in a swift night advance, covered 11 miles of the 80 miles to the next German base of Poltava, and are moving rapidly along the Kharkov-Poltava railway without encountering serious opposition. Other Russian columns pushing along the Sea of Azov shore from Rostov are now within 12 miles of Taganrog, whose fall appears to be imminent with German resistance weakening. The fall of Novorossisk also seems imminent, and street fighting is reported there. A special Soviet communique states: In the Ukraine on February 17, Soviet troops after stubborn lighting occupied the town and railway junction of Slovansk, 90 miles south-east of Kharkov, Tovenki, Sverdlovsk and Bogolukhov, 30 miles west and northwest of Kharkov, and Zmiyev, 20 miles south of Kharkov. In the Kursk area Soviet troops, continuing to develop their offensive, occupied Graivoron, 9u miles due south of Kursk and 40 miles north-west of Kharkov.