GERMANS SWEPT BACK
ON LENINGRAD AND MOSCOW FRONTS Russians Smash Through Strong Defences HARD FIGHTING ON APPROACHES TO SEBASTOPOL HEIGHT RECAPTURED BY SOVIET FORCES LONDON, December 23. Operations on the Leningrad front are so successful that the German plan of encirclement must be considered a complete failure. The main centre of the fighting in this area is now 80 miles east of Leningrad. Thirteen villages were recaptured in one day. The Germans are said to be retreating m disorder. The Russians in this region have advanced fifty miles. The Germans are being harassed by ski troops in the forests and swamps. , x _ . A fierce battle is raging west of Moscow between Russian forces and two enemy tank divisions and five infantry divisions. Fifteen villages have been captured during the last two days. In the Mojaisk area, west of Moscow, the Germans had prepared immensely strong defences and winter quarters. The Russians have smashed through these defences. The situation on the approaches to Sebastopol continues to be grave. The Germans have been reinforced and have made further attacks against the defenders. The “Izvestia” reports the recapture of a height which had been taken by the enemy. Marines of the Black Sea Fleet are co-operating with the Soviet troops. _ .
BRITISH TANKS GIVING GOOD SERVICE IN RUSSIA. ASSISTING VICTORIOUS ADVANCE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, December 22. The Ministry of Supply discloses tonight that a large number of Valentine and Waltzing Matilda tanks have been taking part in the' victorious Russian push which has led to the retreat of the German army and the dismissal of the Commander-in-Chief. Reports which have just been received from official sources in Moscow show that the presence of the British tanks came as a surprise to the Germans, who evidently did not recall the promise which was made to M. Stalin by Lord Beaverbrook or did not believe that it would be so quickly fulfilled. '
British military authorities have been congratulated by Russian military authorities on the fine all-round performance of these machines. They are specially pleased with the Valentines, which are standing up to the hard ground and the fiercest winter conditions and the Russians have found that the two-pounder velocity gun carried in the turret penetrates the armour of the German tanks.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19411224.2.25
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1941, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
376GERMANS SWEPT BACK Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1941, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Wairarapa Times-Age. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.