RUSSIAN SLOGAN IN KHARKOV OFFENSIVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 May 1942, Page 3

RUSSIAN SLOGAN IN KHARKOV OFFENSIVE

Germans Fail to Stem Onslaught SOVIET CAVALRY IN ACTION IN SOME AREAS BITTER STRUGGLE CONTINUED IN CRIMEA LONDON, May 17.. In the Ukraine, Marshal Timoshenko’s forces are continuing their drive towards Kharkov. Messages from Moscow state that the Soviet troops are pressing on towards this key city of the Donetz basin. One dispatch reports that the Russians have now penetrated well into the fortifications of Kharkov and Krasnagrad. They have occupied a number of inhabited areas after hours of street fighting. The German commander, General von Bock, is hurling wave after wave of tanks into the battle in an attempt to arrest the onslaught of the Russians, but the latter are pressing on. They have adopted the slogan: “It is our spring!’’ Soviet cavalry are being employed in the pursuit of the enemy and in destroying materials he is leaving behind. Further Russian successes are reported also in the Kalinin area. The Germans have been dislodged from six towns and villages and have suffered heavy losses of men and material. German resistance is reported to have broken down completely in one sector on the Kharkov front. In this sector the Germans are retreating in disorder and Soviet cavalry are being used in an attempt to cut off the fleeing enemy and destroy supplies in their rear. On the central front, the Russians have repulsed two largescale German counter-attacks. In the Crimea, ■ fighting is still going on in the Kerch Peninsula. The Germans report fighting in the town of Kerch. The “Red Star’’ says large numbers of enemy tanks and armoured cars have been destroyed by Soviet planes.