IMPORTANT HEIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 March 1942, Page 4

IMPORTANT HEIGHT

TAKEN BY THE RUSSIANS. IN STARAYA RUSSA AREA. SURPRISE SPRUNG dN NAZIS. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.20 a.m.) LONDON, March 17. The German army entrapped at Staraya Russa has lost an important defence point in its southern sector, says the Moscow radio. The Russians wiped out 1,000 Germans and captured valuable booty. The Germans were taken by surprise, believing that the Russians were unable to reach the point before a thaw, i The Sixteenth Army's loss of the defence point is especially grave for the Germans, as it is one of their most important defences, situated on the southern summit of a commanding height. The Germans planned to keep the Russians in the valley, hoping that they would be bogged there during the thaw, but the Russians succeeded in driving the defenders from the area and captured a village. A Stockholm message says the Russians have captured a place “P,” which is probably Pysjovka, ten miles east of Viazma. All German attempts to relieve the Sixteenth Army have failed. The Germans in the Donetz basin lost 20,000 troops in one day. Swedish correspondents in Berlin reported a new cold wave on the Russian front. Snowstorms are raging in the Crimea, where the temperature is below freezing point.