VIAZMA OUTFLANKED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 59, 12 March 1943, Page 5

VIAZMA OUTFLANKED

RUSSIANS CAPTURE BYEOLI DESPERATE ATTEMPTS BY NAZIS TO RETAKE KHARKOV (By Telegraph—Preae Association—Copyright) Rccd. 7 p.m. London, March 10. A Russian special communique states: “On March 10 our troops occupied the town of Byeoli, in the Smolensk region. Booty captured is being counted.” The capture of Byeoli, 75 miles north-east of Smolensk, the great German base in central Russia, means that the Russians have now outflanked Viazma from the north. A great tank and infantry battle which may decide the fate of the whole south Russian front is raging on the muddy plains before Kharkov, and the fighting is growing hourly in intensity as tile Germans ceaselessly thrust against this narrow front. A German counter-offensive aiming to retake the city began on February 21, employing a total of about 200,000 men, half of whom are reported to be fresh from the west, backed by considerable armour. The Germans gained important successes in the early stages, but the Russian opposition is naw stiffening, General Golikov bringing in every possible anti-tank gun and anti-tank rifle.

The Germans are fruitlessly doing their utmost to cross the north Donetz, which at the nearest point is 18 miles from Kharkov. The main German concentration is south of Kharkov. A heavy thrust is also being made against the Kharkov-Sumy railway. The German counter - offensive caught the Russian armoured spearheads “on the wrong foot,” because the sudden thaw prevented their main force from rapidly moving up to consolidate the spearheads’ gains. The spearheads, however, put up a stubborn resistance, enabling the main force to take up positions before Kharkov. The transport problem is probably still difficult, because the Red Army before the thaw largely relied on road transport for its 300-mile push from the Volga. The Germans appear to hold the initiative over a front extending 100 miles southward of Kharkov, but the Red Army forces retain the initiative on other sectors of the Russian front. The Russian line has been stabilised along the middle Donetz from Lisichansk up to Kharkov, but none of the recent Russian gains in the northern Ukraine or north-west of Kharkov has been affected by the counteroffensive, nor have the Russians’ offensives south of Briansk and against Viazma and Staraya Russa been stopped. The Russians are half-way from Gjatsk to Viazma and have crossed the Lovat River 15 miles south-east of Staraya Russa. They have also advanced to about 50 miles from the Moscow-Smolensk railway north of Yartsevo. To day’s German High Command communique states: “The German attack westward and north-westward of Kharkov continues to gain ground. Our attacking division reached objectives set for the day.” The communique refers to embittered Russian counter-attacks. The Moscow correspondent of The Times says the German concentration before Kharkov contains a greater mass of armour than the Wehrmacht has ever assembled for a single operation, but it is reported that it has not met with further success south of Kharkov in the past 24 hours. Red Star states that the Russian anti-tank equipment is adequate for the frustration of the enemy’s designs, and 650 German tanks are reported to have been destroyed during the coun-ter-offensive against Kharkov. The Germans are reported to be using twelve armoured infantry divisions and one mechanised division in the Kharkov area. Very heavy fighting is going on southward of Lake Ilmen, where Marshal Timoshenko’s armies are gradually edging westward in one of the most difficult campaigning terrains imaginable. Attention is mainly held by the central front, where the Russian offensive is developing impressively. Several converging advances seriously threaten Viazma. The capture of Temkino, which is a highway cross-road, leaves only one road open for the Germans retreating to Viazma. The Berlin radio military spokesman said the Russians launched new mass attacks against Staraya Russa, and also on the bend of the Lovat River, and extended their thrusts to the shore of Lake Ilmen. Recd, 11.50 p.m. London, March 11. I The Red Army in the last twelve hours west and south of Kharkov, fought Hitler’s crack divisions to a standstill, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The Germans failed to make any further gains and lost another 40 tanks. The Russians menacing Smolensk and advancing from Byeloi are nowbearing down on Nikitinka. The Russians' spearheads from Sychevka and Gjatsk made another leap nearer Viazma. Advancing on a great combined arc, they rave already reduced by one-third the enemy quadrangle which threatened Moscow. Vichy radio reports that the Russians are trying to by-pass Staraya Russa. It is still very cold in this sector and armoured forces can operate over the ice of Lake Ilmen. The Red Army south of Lake Ilmen is trying at any cost to break through to Lake Peipus Kholm. Berlin reports that a new German counter-offensive has begun west ol Kursk. The Germans claim to be progressing rapidly eastwards.

KHARKOV NOT THOUGHT TO BE ENDANGERED

■ecd. 6 p.m. London, March 10. Morley Richards, writing in the Daily Express, says that the dispatch of Germ'an troops from the central front to the Donetz may explain both . the Nazi success in the south and the Russian success in the centre. Examining the German advance in the Donetz, Richards says there is no reason to believe that Kharkov is in danger. Berlin radio said that the evacuation of Byeloi was according to plan and made without enemy pressure. All military installations were destroyed, and all stores evacuated. It was added that the enemy followed the Germans' movements only hesitatingly.

SECOND FRONT

SOVIET PRESS REOPENS

CAMPAIGN

Recd. 6.15 p.m. London. March 10. With the German army counterattacking in the Donetz, the Soviet Press has reopened its campaign for a second front. Pravda says that because there is no second front Hitler is bringing reserves from France, Hol-

land and other occupied countries to the Russian front.

The military commentator of the New York newspaper P.M. says that the strengthened German resistance is due to the transference of a large number of Nazi troops from Western Europe, and adds that this is significant, as most of them were reserve troops held in readiness to meet a second front. The Germans have established defence positions between Riga and Odessa which run paralle. with the western bank of the Dnieper through White Russia to the Black Sea. Almost all military observers believe this is the line on which Hitlei will make his most heroic effort. These fortifications are the last ditch. If the Nazis are forced back that far, they will have given up Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Donetz Basin, and the Ukraine, and practically every inch of ground within the Soviet frontiers. They will not do this without a struggle of epic proportions.