RUSSIANS GAIN GROUND

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23977, 18 June 1943, Page 5

RUSSIANS GAIN GROUND

Local Action North Of Orel MORE - SOVIET AIR RAIDS (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rcc. 11 p.m.) LONDON, June 17. Tension and shelling on several sectors of the Russian front are mentioned in to-day’s Soviet communique, Which adds that no important changes occurred. Russian and German Sources are giving prominence to fighting between Orel and Kharkov, which each side is suggesting may be the prelude to a summer offensive. Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow says that the fighting on the Orel bulge, about 200 miles south of Moscow, is more intense. The Russians in the last

few days have made A valuable improvement ih their positions on the Mtserisk sector, which forms the eastern tip of the salient. The Russians, after crossing the river, captured the first lihe of German trenches on this front. The Germans counter-attacked vigorously several times and suffered heavy losses, but they failed to recover the ground. The Russians’ new positions straighten their line in thfe area about 30 miles north-east of Orel and take in the horseshoe bend which the Germans have been fortifying for a year. Thfe Berlin radio says that Russian troop movements in the Kursk region between Orel and Kharkov have considerably increased in the last few days, suggesting that the Russians intend opening the summer offensive on this sector. The Moscow radio announces that during the night of Tuesday-Wednes-day Soviet long-range aircraft raided the railway junctions of Unfecha, Novozybkov, Roslavl, and Vladislovovka, all west of Orel. Many enemy trains were wrecked and burned out, and particularly large fires and violent explosions were observed on the railway junctions at Unecha and Vladislovovka. All the Soviet aeroplanes returned to their bases. German aircraft made two attempts to raid Saratov, north of Stalingrad, but were driven off. GERMAN POLICY IN RUSSIA CHANGE INDICATED MOVE TO ENLIST AID OF MALCONTENTS LONDON. June 16. A new turn in German policy in Russia aimed at enlisting the help of discontented elements among the Soviet peoples for carrying on the war is emphasised in reports from the Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper “Tidningen.” He says that the Germans, knowing that their military power alone will not Conquer Russia, are making this fact the basis of a new policy aimed at consolidating their present position. German sources say that Russia has abundant manpower, and with the help of industries beyond the Urals and the Allies, she could replace all her material losses, but by securing the co-operation of peoples in occupied Russia the Germans hope to engineer a Soviet civil war. The Stockholm correspondent of “Thfe Times” says that the favourite theme of German military experts in the last few days has been that the German leaders are convinced that it is absolutely impossible to conquer Russia against the Will of the Russian people and without enlisting the aid of the local population. Experts say that this is why the Germans lately have altered their methods and are now inducing Russian peasants to raise crops by restoring private ownership. The correspondent adds: “German apologists now represent the Russians as Willing to co-operate under kind treatment, but say it is impossible to exploit them by compulsion. They constantly refer to active military assistance froin an anti-Stalin army, which, it is alleged, is being formed under a renegade Russian, General Vlassov. Independent reports from the Baltic States affirm that General Vlassov’s force does not exceed a few hundred. “There is little real evidence of the new German ‘kindness’ policy being applied seriously on the spot, although since the spring the Nazi chiefs have been giving land to peasants here and there in White Russia and the Ukraine. The slackening of the bridle has also been tried fitfully since March in the Baltic States without gaining for the Germans widespread willing support. RUSSIAN-GERMAN PEACE TALKS REPORT BY SWEDISH NEWSPAPER LONDON, June 16. The pro-German Swedish newspaper “Allehanda” published a special edition to-day stating that Russian and German peace talks were held recently in a boarding-house near Stockholm. , . , _ The negotiations, between high German officers and several Russian delegates. including Madame Kollontay, the Soviet Minister in Sweden, lasted several days. The Russians offered the Germans Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland. The negotiations broke down when the Germans also demanded the Ukraine, says the newspaper. The Stockholm correspondent of the British United Press states that this account of Russian-German peace talks has not been confirmed from any other source. Madame Kollontay emphatically denied the whole story, and said: “It is just lies from a German quarter.” . ..