RUSSIANS STRUCK WITH GREAT FORCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 203, 28 August 1942, Page 3

RUSSIANS STRUCK WITH GREAT FORCE

ADVANCE ON RJEV

Massed Troops And Tanks

Hidden In Wood

Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON", Aug. 27. The original break-through of the Russian offensive in the Rjev direcrr£ n s on a front of only six miles. The Russians massed troops in a wood. Behind them were large tank and cavalry forces. The German positions were in a wood across a stream.

The Russian offensive opened with tremendous artillery barrage and a mass air attack. Infantry then moved forward, crept close to the exploding shells and waited until the moment the Russian guns switched to the depth of the German defences, then rushed the German trenches. The Russian barrage had destroyed all life in the German outer defences.

The Russians fanned south-west,. West and north-west from the breakthrough. The Germans abandoned .long-range artillery positions seven to eight miles from the forward lines when they learned of the break-through, and the Russians, by the suddenness of their attack and the intensity of their bombardment, were able to take the fortified town of Progoreloye Gorodishche with small losses. Germans' Utmost Efforts The Germans did their utmost to prevent a widening of the breach and launched several counter-attacks with tanks, but within a few days the Russians covered 30 miles. Rain enforced a pause, but the Russians then went forward with renewed vigour and drove southward and occupied Karmanovo, which is 18 miles north of Gjatsk. They advanced eastward and occupied Substov and pressed on to Rjev. The German news agency says the Russians in the Kaluga Rjev •reas have succeeded in making certain local progress. German forces are carrying out a systematic Btraightcnlng of the front. The German military spokesi. ■aid the Russians for the past tw.< days had been attacking on the Leningrad front. Heavy artillery fire ! (receded the attack. Strong tank ormations that were hurled against the German positions on the Neva River finally gained a foothold on the road along the river, but the Original defence line has now been re-established. Bitter Stalingrad Struggle The German news agency declared that the battle for Stalingrad had assumed a particularly bitter character, and added that the Russians were counter-attacking before the city. The Stockholm newspaper Tidningen stated that the Russians were launching particularly violent attacks against the Italian lines north of Stalingrad. The Russians i Were exerting enormous pressure. The Moscow radio said von Bock now has 1,000,000 men concentrated for the Stalingrad offensive. The Vichy radio declared that the Germans have captured Mosdok, in their advance from the central Caucasus.

The Rome , radio reported that fighting in the western Caucasus was foing on in snowstorms at a height of 9000 feet.