DAY & NIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 March 1942, Page 4

DAY & NIGHT

BATTLES ON THE RUSSIAN SOUTHERN FRONT TOTAL ENEMY LOSS OF 1,000 PLANES. ON APPROACHES TO MOSCOW. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, March 5. It is stated in Moscow that over 1,000 enemy planes have been brought down at the approaches to Moscow since the outbreak of war. Eleven of the defenders have been decorated with the order of Hero of the Soviet Union. Battles continue to rage, it is stated, by day and night. on the southern front, where yesterday Soviet forces advanced several miles, recapturing eight settlements and holding them in spite of savage counter-attacks. Guerillas and skiers in the enemy rear are most active, raiding units, cutting communications, derailing trains and taking over supplies. “The garrison at Sebastopol, which is ceaselly harrassing the besiegers, is masterfully defending the port from the Luftwaffe,” states the Army newspaper “Red Star.” The paper reports that enemy pilots are so nervous that their only thought is to unload their bombs, unmindful of their aim, and then make off.” In the northern sector of the front, south of Leningrad, the Russians have thrown in more tanks against the encircled German 16th. Army. Several settlements, including two which had been strongly fortified, have been liberated in the region of Staraya Russa, although the Germans resisted desperately and made use of their Air Force. The 56th Regiment, one of two forming the Fifth Division, which had been sent to relieve the trapped 16th Army, has been routed.