SUDDEN ONFALL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 January 1942, Page 3

SUDDEN ONFALL

LANDING BEGINS BEFORE DAWN GERMANS RALLY AFTER SURPRISE. I SAVAGE LAND AND AIR FIGHTING. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, January 6. Marshal Timoshenko h?.s launched a giant pincer invasion of the Crimea, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” Stockholm correspondent. While the Russians are pushing on from Kerch and Theodosia, a large fleet of Soviet troop transports arrived off Eupatoria, on the west coast, under darkness on the night of January 5, escorted by motor-torpedo-boats, destroyers and naval bombers. Landing operations began just before dawn on January 6 with commandos leading the way. The Germans were surprised but quickly rallied, after which the Russians met a storm of automatic rifle fire on the beaches, while Stuka squadrons from the airfields of Eupatoria and Simferol fought savage dogfights with Russian fleet air arm fighters. t A battle is now raging along the shore. German troops are being rushed up along the Eupatoria-Simfcrol railway in order to check the landing, which, if successful, will sound thedeathknell of the 100,000 Axis troops besieging Sebastopol. The Russian Embassy in Washington today received by cable a message from Colonel Tolchenov in Kuibyshev saying that the Russian conquest of Kerch in the Crimea finally blew up the German plans for the conquest of the Caucasus. He adds: “The belligerents exchanged roles when Russia seized the initiative. Henceforth the Germans will have to take unexpected and frightful blows and fight at the time and place deemed convenient to the Red Army, whose growing strength is demonstrated by this change.

The “Daily Telegraph’s” Stockholm correspondent quotes a German statement that, despite the intense cold, the Russians on the central front threw in large numbers of heavy tanks burning a special fuel compound apparently

impervious to climatic conditions. German military circles describe this as a secret Russian weapon. RED AIR FORCE BUSY. A supplement to last night’s Soviet war communique gives some idea of the damage the Russian air force is inflicting on the retreating German armies. The supplement says: “On January 4 the Soviet air force destroyed' 13 German tanks, four armoured cars, more than 790 lorries with troops, eight guns, 300 wagons with war equipment, seven oil-tankers, and blew up an ammunition dump, destroyed a military train, and routed and partly annihilated three infantry regiments.”. . | The supplement also gives details of the recent fighting in the western Crimea. It says that one Soviet unit inflicted heavy losses on a German unit which attempted to attack defence positions in the Sebastopol sector. The enemy left on the battlefield more than 600 dead officers and men. The Soviet troops captured 80 machine-guns, more than 700 rifles, and a great quantity of other- material. Successful activities by Russian partisans in White Russia were also detailed., Partisans are constantly attacking German units and inflicting losses of men and material. One group blew up a railway and four main road bridges, and interrupted railway and telephonic communication in several areas.