TWO GREAT OFFENSIVES

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 21981, 9 March 1943, Page 3

TWO GREAT OFFENSIVES

BLIZZARDS AND FROSTS C United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received March 9, 11.30 a.m.) , LONDON, March 8 i Amid blizzards and hard frosts the * ~ Red Armies are developing two great offensives along the 200-mile front from southward of Lake Ilmen to Viazma. The speed of the advance in some sectors suggests that the Germans are retreating, either attempting to extricate divisions from'dangen,us salients or to shorten the line by withdrawal to prepared positions. Simultaneously the Germans claim that they have made vigorous counter-attacks westward of Kharkov, where the Russians have been thrusting towards the Dnieper River. If these claims are correct, say Moscow correspondents, th» Wehrmacht is extending northward from the Donetz Basin in its attempt to hold the Russians anu prevent the collapse of the German southern bastions. Such a collapse would imperil the German strategy, which is believed to be the stabilisatiaon of the front on a line which would economise troops, in order to build up an army of manoeuvre with which to re-open the campaign or provide reserves in the event of an Allied onslaught on Europe. But while the Russian advances continue the Germans are confronted by numerous difficulties. The Russians’ encircling moves, which are still unchecked, already threaten from the rear tne strategic towns of Bryansk and Viazma, in the neighbourhood of which the Red Armies are thrusting two spearheads towards the head waters of the Dnieper River ninety miles northeast of Smolensk. The Germans assisted by a network of fortified villages in a densely-populated area have toughened their resistance considerably.