POWERFUL ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 February 1942, Page 3

POWERFUL ATTACKS

ADMITTED BY GERMANS

IN THE LENINGRAD ZONE.

MORE RUSSIAN CAPTURES

IN UKRAINE,

LONDON, February 22.

The Russians are making strong and persistent attacks on the Germans in the Leningrad zone. They are stated to be convinced that the enemy ring round the city will soon be pierced. The Germans admit powerful attacks. Alter claiming the defeat of one of these attacks, a German spokesman said the Russians had been attacking at that point for several weeks now.

The Germans are throwing fresh units into the battle immediately on their arrival from France. In the Ukraine three further centres have been captured by the Russians. In one sector the Russians destroyed ten German tanks and captured seven guns and 16 machine-guns. One of the defensive measures adopted by the Germans is the use of artificial fog to cover their movements. A claim that the Russian armies will strike even more heavily in the spring is made by the “Pravda.” It declares that the German Army is far from being in its former condition and that its spirit has been broken. The Red Army is celebrating its 24th anniversary tomorrow. In London hundreds of people were turned away at a meeting held to celebrate the anniversary.

The “Red Star” states that the big Russian reserve army in the Urals has completed its training and is now ready for action. The reserve air squadron is equipped with Hurricanes! Russian cavalry are reported to have advanced as much as 120 miles at certain points on the northern front. A Berlin message reports fighting on the Fisherman’s Peninsula, in the far north and claims that a barracks has been blown up and two Hurricanes shot down. SOVIET HOPES FRUSTRATION OF SPRING OFFENSIVE. COMPLETE DEFEAT OF NAZIS IN 1942. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON. February 21. The frustration of Hitler’s proposed spring offensive, resulting in the complete crushing of the enemy in 1942, is forecast by the “Red Star.” “Enemy talk of a spring offensive was premature. The winter campaign was at its summit. Over a dozen German divisions will be buried in the snow, and we will advance far westward before the spring. “German power and technique are now weaker than last summer. The Russian Army and industry are more powerful. British and Russian resources in manpower are incomparably greater "than Germany and her allies, and British and American aid to the Soviet is growing ceaselessly. Doubtless, also, the military efforts of our allies will. grow, aiming at the speediest rout of the enemy.” “The Times” Moscow correspondent says that recent prisoners on the Leningrad front included Dutch soldiers, who declared that they were originally taken to Germany as factory workers and then forcibly mobilised. Reports of Rumanian and Hungarian reactions to the expected German spring operations have been received from Ankara. The German insistance that the Rumanian forces on the western frontier should be strengthened is stated to be the reason for the resignation of General Jacobici, the chief of the Rumanian General Staff, and other generals. The Rumanian western armies are being reduced to meet the German demands for more troops for the offensive in Russia. General Jacobici refused to take responsibility for the “suicidal policy” of General Antonescu. From other sources comes a report that General Antonescu is allowing German officers and N.C.O.’s to be incorporated in the Rumanian army. The nomination of a Vice-Regent in Hungary is also believed to be connected with coming operations. The Axis demanded from Hungary 35 divisions, but Admiral Horthy, according to reports, declined to take the responsibility for such a sacrificial move. AIR FIGHTING RUSSIAN SUPERIORITY. DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY PLANES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.32 a.m.) RUGBY, February 22. Russian air superiority on the Eastern front is seen in the night communique, which records the destruction of 25 enemy planes on Friday for the loss of three. Fourteen were brought down in aerial combat and eleven destroyed on the ground. Yesterday German planes were brought down near Moscow. The communique also records stubborn land fighting yesterday, during which the Russians advanced and occupied several localities. LATVIAN BORDER CROSSED BY RED ARMY. GERMANS USING NUMEROUS TANKS. LONDON, February 22. Advanced units of the Russians trusting south-westward from Novogorod have crossed the old Latvian border, says the Stockholm correspondent of the “Sunday Expess.” The Russians are now 100 miles from Riga, the capital of Latvia. Other Russian columns are pushing west from the Shelon River and northwest from Toropets, rushing toward Latvia in order to reinforce the advanced forces and consolidate the conquered positions. Latvian guerillas are co-operating with the Russians, and !

several fiercely-defended villages havebeen retaken. The “Red Star” says the Germans have thrown in great numbers of .tanks in an attempt to halt the advance. RED ARMY GREETINGS FROM ALL PARTS OF RUSSIA. CONVEYED BY DELEGATES. (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, February 22. It is reported from Moscow that delegations of workers from all the peoples of the Soviet Union have airived at the front to greet the troops on the occasion of the Red Army anniversary. The “Pravda” says the German army today is far from being the same as in July. It lost, from December 6 to January 15 alone, about 300,000 soldiers and officers killed. The spirit of Hitler’s army has been broken, but in order to rout the German forces completely, the Red Army and the whole of the Soviet people must strain every nerve.