LARGE REGION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 February 1942, Page 3

LARGE REGION

MENACED BY RUSSIAN PINCERS GERMANS THROWING IN VAST RESERVES. IN ATTEMPT TO HALT ONSLAUGHT. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, February 25. Following their defeat of the Germans at Staraya Russa, the Russians now hold a line from Novogorod through Kholm to Velikye Luki. This sector is vitally important for the Russians’ spring offensive. It threatens the Germans on both the Smolensk and Leningrad fronts. The Germans are now throwing vast reserves into the battle in the Staraya Russa region in a feverish attempt to halt the Russians. The Russians, according to a report from Stockholm, are still battering most actively toward Shlusselburg from the south in an attempt to unfasten the German grip on Leningrad. The Russians describe Dorogobuj as a complete shambles. The retreating Germans burned the few buildings standing since the battles of last summer. If General Zhukov’s pincers can press for 25 miles they will thus meet across the German railway lifeline, thereby enveloping a large region including Viazma and Rzhev, which would be the largest pocket the Russians have yet managed to encircle.