STILL ADVANCING

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 21931, 9 January 1943, Page 3

STILL ADVANCING

HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES GARRISONS LIQUIDATED RUSSIAN LINE DEFINED (IJDlted Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright! (Received Jan. 9, 1 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 8 The Russian North Caucasian army has reached Stepnoe, 40 miles north of Mozdok and less than 40 miles from the Russian army pushing south from Stalingrad, which reached Urozhanoe yesterday, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. German forces attempted to make a stand at Stepnoe but the Red Army attacked so strongly that the enemy was thrown into a new retreat. The line of retreat is jammed with abandoned German tanks, lorries and guns. Trains loaded with munitions were found at several railway stations. The vanguard of the Soviet offensive down the Don River has passed Stakhov, 16 miles west of Orlovka. Two villages on the north baftk of the Sal River also have been taken. A Stockholm message reports that the Russians have entered Georgievsk, where heavy street fighting is going on. South Russian Front The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says the Russian line in the lower Don area approximately crosses the StalingradVerevo railway westward of Tatsynskaya and thence goes eastward from Yermakovskaya, which is 20 miles eastward of Donetz, thence westward from Saserkov and across the Don, which it crosses at Marianskaya, to the south-west of Orlovka. The line thence runs south-eastward to Martynovka, along the southern bank of the Sal, crossing the river in the neighbourhood of Kharitinov, and thence on the north bank of the Sal, crossing it and turning southward to the Caucasus via the region of Simovniki. Tonight’s special communique announces the capture of the town and railway station of Simovniki after fierce fighting. Emphasising the difficulties facing the Germans following developments of these Russian thrusts, the Times Moscow correspondent points out that the Salsk-Rostov railway, which the Germans have converted to carry European gauge traffic, is scarcely less important than the Rostov-Tik-horetsk line for feeding the German Southern armies. Railways Gained Rokossovsky's troops have secured al! but a few miles of the Trans-Don railway and east of Tatsynskaya, where flying columns successively took four places, they have formed a solid front with Yeremenko’s men. stretching across the Don Bend and liquidating several German garrisons behind the front. The Russians took these and other places in their stride, the Germans suffering further heavy losses in men and equipment. The Germans are pertinaciously counter-attacking in the vicinity of the lower Don. using units consisting of single battalions supported by tanks, but they have failed to stem the Russian drive. The Red Air Force has suppressed many German guns. Russians in the Middle Don have pinned down and encircled a large and well-defended garrison which fresh reserves fruitlessly sought to relieve. CHINESE OBJECTION FACIFIC INSTITUTE VIEWS (United Tres- Assn.—El or. Tel. Copyrlgnt) CHUNGKING, Jan. 7 The newspaper Takung Pao in an editorial article bitterly assails the recent conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations held in Ottawa, at which, it says, “the reactionary school of thought reared its ugly head.” The newspaper alleges that the conference suggested that Manchuria should not be returned to China, and expresses indignation with United States isolationists who urged that lend-lease aid to China be suspended. It asserts that China has lost 10,000000 men in the fight against Japanese aggression. SLENDEREST MARGIN DEMOCRATS IX U.S. CONGRESS United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright) WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 Mr Sam Rayburn has been reelected Speaker of the House of Representatives. defeating the Republican candidate by 217 votes to 206. Thus, by the slenderest margin in a decade, the Democrats retained control of the House. Mr Rayburn told a cheering House that when victory was won there must be no stopping until the vandalism of Berlin, Rome and Tokio was wiped from the face of the world. He added: “We must disarm vandals and keep them disarmed.”