SOVIET DEEPENING BREAK IN IN LINES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 117, 20 May 1942, Page 7

SOVIET DEEPENING BREAK IN IN LINES

TERRIFIC BLOWS

Russians Confident Can

Win This k Yea**

United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. 1 p.m LONDON, May 19.

Marshal Timoshenko's armies aro still striking hard towards Kharkov. According to messages received from Moscow, the Russians are widening and deepening the breach in the German defence. At one point they have got through, and the Germans are fighting desperately to hold this route.

The Moscow radio has announced' that the enemy are now laying minefields to the south of Kharkov, but these are being cleared away by Soviet troops.

The Soviet Army claims that It has everything necessary for completing the destruction of the German Army in 1942. A communique states that the Soviet forces will continue to fight on such an immense scale that the German Army will not be able to withstand the pressure.

The German counter-attacks on Kharkov front yesterday were much fiercer than in the first days of the battle. The enemy is bringing up more and more mechanised units, but the Russian gunners, tanks and infantry are smashing these reinforcements.

The German Air Force is on the defensive. Crashed Messerschmitts and Heinkels are scattered in the fields, and the roads to Kharkov are strewn with the remains of tanks and vehicles. In an effort to stem the Russian advance by confusing the rear, the Germans are' launching groups of parachutists. However, they are being wiped out, mostly before they reach the ground.

Another Moscow report says the Germans are throwing in an evergrowing number of tanks. Infantry operating from armoured tank trailers are repeatedly counterattacking in vain.