FIERCE FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1942, Page 3

FIERCE FIGHTING

ON PARTS OF RUSSIAN FRONT MORE GAINS BY SOVIET TROOPS. SIGNS OF NEW NAZI EFFORT IN CRIMEA. LONDON, April 1. Several sectors of the Russian front, from Leningrad to the Crimea, are in the news today. In all of them steady Russian progress and unsuccessful German counter-attacks are reported. A Swedish correspondent states that over a period of some months, partisans behind the Russian lines in the Leningrad zone have killed or captured 16,000 enemy officers and men, including three generals. At Staraya Russa, the trapped German 16th Army has lost half its strength and now numbers only 50,000 troops. The remnants of the encircled army are still trying desperately to break through the Russian ring. A “Pravda” correspondent reports that on the central front the Russians have captured a strongly fortified village which the Germans defended house by house. Scores of German dead were left in the streets. A considerable amount of enemy war material was captured. In the Donetz Basin the Germans admit fierce Russian attacks. The Russians are breaking down enemy pockets of resistance and cutting down the enemy manpower and equipment. In the Crimea the Germans are no nearer their objectives than when the siege of Sabastopol began last November. This is the 150th day of the siege of Sebastopol. Today’s reports suggest that the enemy is making strong preparations to try to reduce the great Russian stronghold. A message from Moscow states that large numbers of men and tanks are being withdrawn from France and sent tc the Crimea.