STATE OF TENSION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21112, 4 June 1943, Page 3

STATE OF TENSION

FRONT GREAT AIR BATTLE NEW PHASE IN KUBAN

(By Telegraph—-Press Assn.—Conyriaht.) LONDON. June 2. The Moscow radio states that despite the comparative lull, a state of tension prevails over the entire Russian front. Russian artillery on the Moscow front is hammering the enemy positions and Russian artillery in the Lisichansk area is preventing the Germans from erecting fortifications and concentrating infantry. A special Russian announcement states that the Germans sent 500 planes to raid Kursk this afternoon. The Germans so far have lost 123 aeroplanes and the Russians 30. The Red Star issues a warning that the air war is daily growing fiercer. The Kuban battle is still in the local preparation stage and has not yet become a general offensive against the Germans.

The Berlin radio reports that the third phase of the great battle of the Kuban bridgehead began yesterday. Numerous Soviet howitzers, trench mortars, and batteries the previous night for several hours pounded the German and Rumanian bridgeheads on the eastern front. This intense barrage was aimed to soften up the German lines, particularly west of Krymskaya. preparatory to an. assault. The adjaceht northern sectors were also subjected to extremely heavy shelling. Soviet Gain Admitted

A great new battle began at the crack of dawn, says the radio. The Russians had brought up five new tank brigades and several rifle divisions. The bulk of these tanks formed the first offensive wave, which rolled up in close formation. The German defenders allowed the tanks to approach within a few hundred yards and then dealt a devastating blow with heavy weapons. The radio claims that a majority of the tanks were destroyed or immobilised, but admits that one group of enemy armoured cars succeeded- in pressing beyond the German main line to the west.

The Berlin radio said that increasingly lively skirmishes were reported from various parts of the eastern front. A Russian regiment in the neighbourhood of Velish launched several attacks with the support of tanks and planes. Grim hand-to-hand fighting developed on the approaches to the Germans’ main lin,e. Soviet operations elsewhere chiefly consisted of strong shock troop movements designed to discover the strength of the German positions. A German High Command spokesman said that groups of Soviet partisans in the German rear were being regularly supplied with food and ammunition by air. They were also in radio communication with Moscow, from where they receive instructions. This was discovered when the Germans successfully concluded a punitive expedition against a large group of partisans who had established a wellfortified and well-supplied base north of Briansk. Many partisans were killed and large booty taken, r German Plan Dislocated The reason that the German summer offensive, which was generally expected to be launched in May, has thus far failed to materialise, lies undoubtedly in the terrific Russian air offensive during the vital first fortnight of May when the German command was ready to strike, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. Since the beginning of April the Germans have been massing huge quantities of tanks, planes and troops on key fronts, including Orel, Bryansk, Kharkov, Byelgorod, and Lisichansk anrl the Voroshilovgrad and Taganrog sectors, ’ but the Russian air attacks last month destroyed practically 'halt the petrol the Germans had brought up to feed the Luftwaffe squadrons destined to take part in the May offensive. Herr Hitler has been forced to postpone his originally scheduled zero hour by the strength, timeliness, and accuracy of the Soviet air onslaught. The Germans were obliged to turn back and try to fill up the holes torn in their offensive preparations. These gaps were partly made good during the second half of May, which explains the resumption of the Soviet air offensive with the smashing attacks of the past few days against vital communication centres and bases. A grim struggle is now going on for air supremacy over the front. The enemy is also doing his utmost to paralyse the Soviet communications and important centres to the rear.