FIRMLY REPELLED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 May 1942, Page 4

FIRMLY REPELLED

GERMAN ATTACKS ON KERCH PENINSULA Various Stories of Coming Great Offensive HEAVY FORCE OF DIVE-BOMBERS EMPLOYED NAZI REFERENCES TO SOVIET NUMERICAL SUPERIORITY ' (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 1.5 p.m.) LONDON, May 12. It is authoritatively stated that Germans launched their Kerch Penisula offensive last Friday, employing a few divisions, accompanied by a heavy air attack which was concentrated against troops rather than communications. The Germans progressed a little at the northern end of the front, which is believed to cover the whole of the peninsula north of Theodosia. After three days of bitter fighting the Red Army forced back the Germans to their original positions. The German casualties were heavy. Reuter’s correspondent on the German frontier says reports indicate that Soviet -bombers heavily attacked German troop concentrations and supply columns in the Eastern Crimea. The Germans launched their offensive, with powerful forces, on the narrowest part of the isthmus (about twelve miles acicss) joining the Kerch Peninsula with the Crimea. It is believed that the Germans will also try to thrust along the northern shore of the Sea of Azov, towards Rostov, thus opening up another threat to the Caucasus. After that, fighting is likely to flare up on a tremendous scale all along the front. Already operations on a considerable scale are developing southward of Leningrad. A German military spokesman said: “Hell has been let loose over the Bolshevik positions on the Kerch Peninsula. Squadron after squadron of German planes is racing over the Russian front, with Junkers' 87s carrying out dive-bombing attacks. German and Rumanian troops are operating against a numerically superior enemy.” German sources report great concentrations of Russians near Lake Ilmen and strong enemy thrusts across the Donetz River. This is taken in London as an indication that the Red Army is completing its positional operations in preparation for the coming struggle.