KHARKOV TRIUMPH

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

KHARKOV TRIUMPH

SPIRIT OF VICTORY MAKES JOY IN CAPITAL RUSSIAN COMMANDER'S STRATEGY (Recd. 6.40 p.m.) London, Feb. 17. Moscow’s joy over the Kharkov triumph is reflected in the Soviet broadcasts, which, indeed, indicate that the spirit of victory animates all Soviet Russia. The radio told the story of Kharkov over and over again all day. Ukrainian writers and poets read and recited articles and poems which apparently had been written overnight, hailing the Red Army’s achievements, and now the story is being told of how Kharkov was taken, with the usual accompanying details of German terrorism. Reuter s Moscow correspondent says that the frozen bodies of some of the Gestapo’s victims were still dangling by the neck from balconies in the main streets as the Soviet troops entered the city. The civilian population suffered tortures from German savagery. Thousands of workers who were among the most skilled in the Soviet Union were dragged off to slavery somewhere in the German rear. Those who remained had been starved, robbed, and forced to work on the German defences under lire. Berlin radio, describing the destruction the Germans carried out in Kharkov, said: “The town is a sea of flames. All military targets and traffic installations were blown up, making the centre of the town impassable.” Moscow radio says that only part of the forces in the Kharkov city area escaped, and that they are being pursued by the Red Army and wiped out by guerrillas. The greater part were either taken prisoner or left dead on the battlefield. “Our plan is not merely to push back but to completely destroy the hate enemy,” the radio said. “The Red Army is going on and will eventually finally carry out this destruction.”

The Moscow correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting System reports that the Russians are chasing the remnants of the S.S. Corps along th? railway to Poltava. The triumph of strategy by which the city of normally a million people fell was told by Reuter's Moscow correspondent. General Golikov completely hoodwinked the German commander, who expected the brunt of the final assault to come from the east side of the city, where he had concentrated his main forces. General Golikov, sweeping around the Germans to the year, cut the two railways remaining in the Germans hands leading cut of Kharkov to the west and southwest. The Russians then launched the main attack from the north instead of from the east, as the Germans expected. Soviet cavalry which were standing in readiness south of Kharkov at Taranovka galloped a dozen miles on the night of February 13 and cut the Kharkov - Dnepropetrovsk railway. Troops under General Moskalenko simultaneously made a surprise attack torn the north, and, having thrust to Zolocheve, General Moskalenko turned his divisions in their tracks and marched south-east straight against Kharkov. After covering many miles by forced march General Moskalenkos men at dawn on February 14 came near the approaches of Kharkov, whose inhabitants could hear their shouts. The German garrison was then half-encircled.

A Russian communique says that among documents captured at Kharkov was an order from the German High Command that tne garrison should defend the city at any cost.