CLEARING DONETZ BASIN

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22137, 8 September 1943, Page 5

CLEARING DONETZ BASIN

ADVANCE OF RUSSIANS MENACE TO GERMANS j (United Pres? Assn.- Hie-. T'T Copyright) j | (Received Sept. 8, 1 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 7 The Russians now hold two-thirds 1 of the Donetz Basin and are moving j westward at the rate of from 10 to I 15 miles daily, says the Moscow corj respondent of the Columbia Broad- | casting System. Russia’s richest coal country should very soon be completely in Russian hands. The German position in Stalino is untenable. The Red Army is now fighting in the subunbs of Stalino. Tonight’s Soviet communique says: i The Russians in the Donetz Bas,in i advanced from six to 12 miles today ; and captured over 90 inhabited local- ; ities, including large centres The ; Russians in the Bakhmach direction I advanced from six to 10 miles and! occupied over 150 inhabited local- ! ities, including Baturin, 10 miles | north-east of Bakmach and one of j the Chernigov region district centres. South of Briansk the Russians ad- j vanced from six to 10 miles and ! captured over 50 inhabited places, includiry the railway junction of Navlya, 25 miles south of Briansk. i The capture of Navlya cuts one rail- j i way to Konotop and another south- I j ward through Lgov to Khargov. j The Russians also captured Gorodisch.e, 30 miles north-west of Konoi top, on the western bank of the Desna River. This means that the Gomei-Bakhmach line has been cut. ' The Russians south and south-west of Kharkov advanced in some sectors from to 44 miles, capturing a number of inhabited localities. Repeatedly Changed Hands The Russians have reoccupied Zenkov (44 miles north-west of Poltava), which has repeatedly changed hands. The Russians in the Smolensk direction fought offensive battles for the improvement of their positions. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent states that the Germans’ resistance in the past 48 hours on the Smolensk front has considerably increased. Fighting is going on across stronglyprepared positions. The Germans are making systematic counter-attacks, using tanks and massed mortars.

Five Red Army groups are pushing the Germans back on an almost continuous line along the 800-mile front, say despatches from Moscow. Berlin military circles admit that the Germans are “continuing the elastic defence” and are falling back before the massive German thrusts; in which up to 160,000 men are being used for a single attack. Allied correspondents in Moscow say that the Russians are striking relentlessly with undiminished force against key points. The latest front line reports indicate that Stalino cannot hold out much longer. The Russian drive further north, aimed at cutting the railway between the German northern and southern armies at Bakhmach, continues to make headway. Germans May Be Trapped

The Stockholm correspondent of the Times says that Mariupol must be evacuated without delay, otherwise with the sole railway cut it will share the fate of Taganrog, where a large German force was trapped. The Russian guns which smashed the German stronghold last month precipitated the withdrawal in the Donetz Basin last week, but the retreat since then has been more or less according to plan, with the dashing Russians accelerating the pace. The Germans have nowhere managed anything like a determined stand since the general westward movement began. The Germans hitherto have had the densest railway system in Russia over which to retreat. They have also had hard roads, unaffected by weather. Now they have reached the western fringe of this railway area they must continue to retreat over three main lines and scarcely any hard roads. The battle south to west of Kharkov is becoming a prodigious trial of strength. It is still too early to predict whether the Russian hammer operating here will succeed in smashing the tough German anvil, but recent successes augur well for the Russians.