THREATENED BY RUSSIAN ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 January 1942, Page 3

THREATENED BY RUSSIAN ATTACKS

Fierce Battles Raging SOVIET TROOPS LAUNCH FRONTAL ASSAULT ON MOJAISK RENEWED PRESSURE IN TAGANROG AREA LONDON, January 15. The Russians, on their vast front from the north to the Black Sea, are threatening four big towns. Marshal Timoshenko’s armies are at the gates of Taganrog and are before the outer defences of Kharkov, where fierce battles are raging. In the Crimea, the Russian drive from the east and west continues towards the capital. In the Moscow area the Russians have intensified their frontal attack on Mojaisk and threaten to encircle the German troops contained in the Mojaisk salient. The main news from the Russian front is about Taganrog, 30 miles west of Rostov, on the Sea of Azov. Berlin reports fighting in this area and strong artillery preparation by the Russians. The people of Taganrog can hear the bursting of the Russian shells over the German lines. The “Pravda,” referring to the recapture of Medyn, says this success shows that the Russian thrust south of Mojaisk is continuing, The Moscow radio says the town was retaken in the face of stubborn opposition, the Soviet troops having to storm every house and cellar. Numbers of the enemy troops tried to escape in small groups after setting fire to the town. They left many hundreds of dead and abandoned quantities of material. The Russians have launched a mass frontal attack at Mojaisk, where large forces of picked German troops hold a salient. In the fierce battle which is still raging, one key position has changed hands seven times. In the Leningrad area the Russians have cleared almost the whole of the eastern bank of a river defence system and at one point have crossed the river and driven through the German positions on the western bank. A German air attack on Russian troop concentrations and aerodromes is reported in the Crimea area.