PUTTING HITLER’S CLOCK BACK

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 103, 26 January 1943, Page 5

PUTTING HITLER’S CLOCK BACK

Russians Near Nazi Starting Line (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, January 24. The Russians at two places are now only about 50 miles from the line from which the last German offensive began on the southern half of the front. One of these areas is between Voronezh and Kharkov, where the Russians are about 50 miles from the German starting point near Byelgorod. The other is on the lower Donetz near Voroshilovgrad. s ' Between Voronezh and Rostov the Russians are nowhere more than about 100 miles from the line they held last spring. South of Rostov a large area of the Germans’ 1942 gains still remains to them in the Kuban district, but it is rapidly shrinking, and their chances, of retaining any Caucasian territory at all are slender. Commenting on this, the “Observer” says that a statement which has been made by the American Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson, that Russia now has air superiority over the whole front goes a long way to explain the decisive turn in the tide. Moreover, it is one aspect of the Russian victories to which the British and the Americans have contributed. The 6000 planes which were produced for Russia in British and American factories aud which were delivered by the valour of British, American and Russian sailors have contributed as much to this Russian air superiority as the destruction wrought by the Luftwaffe in Tunis, Libya,' and elsewhere. Satellites Accounted For. Nearly all the Germans’ satellite divisions fighting in Russia are now accounted for, it was stated in Loudon today. All the Italian and Hungarian troops have been so heavily defeated in recent weeks that their effective fighting strength must become negligible, while of the original 20 Rumanian divisions all but four are known to have been badly mauled. , T Capitulations en masse by Italian, Rumanian and Hungarian troops have been a frequent occurrence, sometimes with generals and their staffs. A news agency correspondent says that during a recent visit to the Stalingrad front he learned that on the previous day the commander of a Rumanian unit crossed the front line in a car to surrender. The Russians, however, turned the commander back with a request to bring his men and their equipment, which they did. The'Germails are now beginning to admit the facts about the doomed Axis army outside Stalingrad. Today’s Berlin communique says that the situation has deteriorated because of further breaches from the west by powerful Russian forces.