AH FIGHTING IN RUSSIA

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23966, 5 June 1943, Page 5

AH FIGHTING IN RUSSIA

Both Sides Launch Big Raids RUSSIANS REPEL LAND ATTACKS (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, June 3. Reports from both sides show that the air fighting in Russia has reached terrific intensity. The German News Agency says; ‘‘After the mass daylight raid on Kursk yesterday, the Germans continued their air attacks at night, concentrating against Kursk’s extensive railway installations.” The Moscow correspondent of "The Times” says: "Any day on the battlefront north-east of Novorossiisk on which fewer than 1000 sorties are flown by the opposing air forces is regarded as exceptional. Air fights rage without respite day and night.” The Berlin radio says that 15 Russian tanks succeeded in penetrating the German lines on the Kuban bridgehead, but the radio claims that the lines were closed behind the enemy. A big German air formation attacked the Russian lines north-east of Novorossiisk, but it was repulsed by the Red Air Force. The Russians

countered by attacking the German forward positions round this base. The enemy is reported to have concentrated 1000 aircraft in the Kuban area. The Moscow radio has announced that on Wednesday night a large force of Soviet long-range aircraft attacked the railway junctions at Kiev and Roslavl, bombing trains and dumps. Numerous trains were wrecked. Fires were followed by explosions, A particularly heavy attack was directed against ammunition dumps in the area of KieV, where there were very great fires followed by huge explosions. All except two- of the Soviet aeroplanes returned to their bdS6S« The Russians now report that in the German raid on Kursk yesterday 162 German aircraft were destroyed in combat and by anti-aircraft fire, and not 132 as previously reported. Soviet losses were 27. North-west of Moscow A savage battle has been fought out on the Kalinin front, north-west of Moscow, where the Germans penetrated to the Russian trenches before being repulsed. The Germans on one sector, after firing 1000 shells against an advanced Russian position, launched a mass assault. . The Russians allowed the Germans to come within 150 yards range and then mowed them down with machine-guns and rifles. Some of the enemy succeeded in penetrating to the Russian trenches, but they were eventually forced to retreat. Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow says that, a German attack against Velikye Luki, on the central front, lasted for several days, in which the Russians were consistently pushed back and lost ground before the Red Army commanders regrouped, struck back, and restored the position. The Germans, although they were back where they had started, struck again and again, but the Russians stood firm. The Germans have set great store on the recapture of Velikye Luki, which is now a Russian danger point, threatening the enemy’s main northwestern communications, because only a few miles west of Velikye Luki the Moscow-Riga railway intersects the main lateral line from Leningrad to the Ukraine, which is the German supply lifelihe behind the front. The Red Army in the Russian salient between Kursk and Orel succeeded in beating back repeated German efforts with reinforcements to retake three important villages which the Russians had captured. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” reports strong Russian artillery activity south of Izyum, on the Donets. He adds that the Red Army, in spite of the Luftwaffe’s desperate efforts to destroy communications, is maintaining the flow of men and sup* plies by lorries across the Donets to its bridgeheads on the right bank. Russian Communique A supplement to the Russian communique says: “In the Black Sea Soviet naval units sank an enemy submarine and a tanker. In the Barents Sea naval units and the Red Air Force sank a transport, two guard vessels, and a trawler. In the Gulf of Finland Soviet aeroplanes sank an enemy transport. “On the central front enemy fortifications and concentratinos of troops were shelled. In the Lisitichansk area Germans, on reconnaissance attempted to reach the left bank of the Donets by boat. When the enemy was in the middle of the river the Russians opened machine-gun and rifle fire and wiped out the entire group.” The supplement also reports local activities on the Kalinin front, west of Rostov, and on the Karelian front where one Red Army unit, after shelling, attacked the enemy on a height.

MR EDSEL FORD’S WILL

(Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, June 4. Mr Edsel Ford’s will has been filed for probate. He bequeathed the bulk of his estate to the Ford Foundation, which is a non-profit educational corporation. Gifts to such organisations are not taxable. Attorneys estimate the estate, inheritance, and transfer taxes will be 12,000,000 dollars. The value of the entire estate is believed to be about 200,000,000 dollars, including 41§ per cent, shares in the Ford Motor Company, and the majority of the stock in the Manufacturers’ National Bank at Detroit. Most of Mr Ford’s motor shares were left to the foundation, the remainder being divided equally among his widow and each of his four children. His widow, who is named as executrix, also receives bank stock, the family estates at Michigan, Maine, and Florida, and other properties, and Mr Ford’s personal effects. Mr Joseph Davies Returns.—Mr Roosevelt’s spccrl envoy. Mr Davies, arrived in Washington from Moscow and went directly to the White House, says an Agency message. - Rugby, June 4.