LOSSES CONTINUE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20661, 12 January 1942, Page 5

LOSSES CONTINUE

NAZIS IN RUSSIA RETREAT EVERYWHERE CRISIS IN CRIMEA (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn ) (Reed. Jan. 12, 10.20 a.m. LONDON, Jan. 11. While the midday Russian communique merely records fighting last night on all fronts, a supplementary communique gives several accounts of successful local actions. One was a surprise attack which led to the destruction of the headquarters staff of a German battalion. Eight officers and 160 soldiers were killed during the attack. On the Leningrad front, one unit in one day destroyed 15 pillboxes and killed 260 officers and men.

The supplementary communique states that on Thursday eight units of the Soviet air force destroyed seven tanks, one armoured car, more than 760 lorries containing enemy infantry and army supplies, 38 guns with their crews, 475 ammunition cars, three tractors, nine machine-gun nests, seven oil tanks containing petrol, and seven military trains, blew up two ammunition dumps, and routed seven battalions of enemy infantry. One Russian unit operating in one sector of the central front during one day occupied two localities and captured two guns, one machine-gun, and a great quantity of war material. About 100 men were killed. In another sector, the enemy attempting to stop the advance counter-attacked. The enemy lost 300 killed and retreated. As the result of the fighting, our troops occupied three localities and captured six guns, 14 machineguns, and three trench mortars. Troop Trains Smashed

A unit of the army commanded by General Fediuninsky, on the Leningrad sector, during two days killed about 200 of the enemy and destroyed seven pill-boxes, and five machinegun nests, and captured two guns, two tractors, several lorries, 200 mines, and other war material. The Baltic fleet’s guns silenced five batteries of heavy guns. A succesful air attack is recorded in the region of the town of “K.” where 18 German planes were destroyed on the ground and three while landing, including 10 MElO9s. Messages from Kuibyshev state that Russian bombers recently smashed 85 German troop trains and put 32 railway stations out of action, as a result of which the Germans stopped using several of the main lines. Russian air operations are extending as far as the Latvian and Lithuanian borders, where the railways are being pounded.

The Russian radio says that Russian pressure is increasing on all the main fronts. The Russians are breaking down the German resistance on the Kalinin front. The Germans are vainly trying to establish new positions. The roads over which the enemy is retreating are littered with wrecked and burned out vehicles, tanks, and guns. The Russians on the southern front, despite severe frosts and heavy snowfalls, continue to advance. The Russians crossed the Donetz River at many points after artillery preparation and captured 45 inhabited localities in the last two two days. Several large Russian units are operating in the rear of the German lines.

Four-Pronged Red Drive

Everywhere in the Crimea German forces are retreating, says the saily Telegraph’s Stockholm correspondent. The Russian offensive is developing into a four-pronged drive designed to envelop the Germans and cut them off from their lines of retreat on the Perekop isthmus. The Germans suffered severe losses in battles around Sebastopol, Eupatoria, and Theodosia. The main arm of the Russian offensive is driving northwards from Sebastopol towards Simferopol, which is the Axis main base. The Russian capture of Eupatoria followed three days of bloody house-lo-house fighting. After the occupation of the Kerch Peninsula, the Russian troops divided. One army thrust westward from Theodosia, north of the Yaila mountains, along the main railway to Simferopol. The second army forked off northwards towards Perekop from the Vladislovovka railway junction 15 miles north of Theodosia. Nazi Troops By Air The continued stream of reinforcements from the Caucasus has led even Berlin to admit that the Crimea fighting has reached a critical phase. The Red Star says the Germans are bringing troops by air from western Europe in an* effort to stem the Russian advance on the central sector. The newspaper adds that General Dovator, the famous Cossack commander, was killed in action on the Moscow front. It is reported in Peshawar that Russia’s striking power is increasing with the growth of big new armies in the republics of Kirghiz and Tadzhik, and also trans-Capsian Russia. Men over 21 years of age are being called up and tens of thousands over the age of 40 have been recruited for civil duties. The Kuibyshev radio states that the latest news indicated that Herr Hitler had lost the first of his battles since he assumed command. He had failed to maintain the line on which he hoped to spend the winter.