ALLIED TANKS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 127, 1 June 1942, Page 5

ALLIED TANKS

ON RUSSIAN FRONT

Equipment Of New Brigades Now Ready For Action

United Press Association.—Copyright,

LONDON, May 31

Several brigades of British and American tanks are being formed in central Russia and will soon be sent to the front, says the British United Press correspondent in Moscow. British-built Valentine and Waltzing Matilda tanks have already been in action on the Kharkov and central fronts with good results. A visit to "Britanski Tankograd" (British tank town), which has grown up behind the Russian lines, is described by an agency correspondent, reports British Official Wireless. The "town," he says, is composed of row after row of Waltzing Matildas and Valentines, with sturdy Russian tank troops manning them. The correspondent met Colonel Ivan Shapovaloff, commander #of a Red Army tank brigade equipped exclusively with British tanks. "The period of training," said Colonel Shapovaloff, "has ended, and the real business is beginning. This is n(st the first Soviet brigade to be equipped with British tanks, or the last. More British-built armoured fortresses are coming along." Praise for Waltzing Matildas The British Broadcasting Corporation observer who recently visited a Soviet brigade equipped with British and American tanks says that, generally speaking, there has been high praise for the Waltzing Matildas and the Valentines already in action on the Kharkov front. The Russian colonel in command of a brigade of British tanks told him that the speed of the Waltzing Matildas, was, if anything, greater than was needed, and their strength, as well as their fire power, was quite adequate. They were in general an excellent tank, and gave good results, especially against the German T3 type, the armour of which the guns of the Waltzing Matildas can pierce. The observer was greatly struck by the fact that the- crews in these tanks were young and highly experienced.

A vast and ceaseless flow of weapons and arms is pouring into Russia through the Persian Gulf. Day and night, British and Indian rolling stock are carrying long loads of supplies northward. "If you could see the railway traffic returns," said an official, "you would know we are putting our backs into the Russian bid for victory." He explained also that planes for Russia are assembled at a factory in the Persian Gulf.

Test pilots try them out, then later the planes are flown to Russian aerodromes by ferry pilots. "Our men could do with these supplies in the Middle East," he continued, "but it is pretty certain that not one of them begrudges a cartridge to assist the Russians."

The Berlin radio says the Red Army is using against parachutists a four-barrelled machine-gun. which fires 5000 rounds a minute.