IMPORTANT HIGHWAY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 June 1942, Page 3

IMPORTANT HIGHWAY

LEADING TO CENTRE OF CITY REACHED BY GERMANS FIGHTING MORE & MORE VIOLENT APPROACH AREAS LITTERED WITH ENEMY DEAD (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, June 20. The battle for Sebastopol is becoming more violent. The Moscow radio admits that the Germans have reached a highway leading to the centre of the city, and adds that reinforced German infantry, covered by a smokescreen and supported by tanks and planes, are making strong new attacks. Bombs and shrapnel are showering on the city. Some Russian gun crews were buried alive under earth heaved up by the shells, but the defenders are fighting stubbornly. The Germans for more than a week have been, striving to capture Sebastopol, but have achieved nothing. Mountains and valleys in the approaches to the city are littered with German and Rumanian, bodies. Prisoners says that the Germans lost half of their effective strength, and have been compelled to bring up fresh reserves of infantry and tanks. Russian marines reinforced Sebastopol. They landed from a cruiser which beat off repeated air attacks, and cleared a way through minefields to get into the port. The cruiser also shelled German positions on the coast. The Vichy radio says the Russians counter-attacked and recaptured a number of fortified positions at Sebastopol. Axis forces to the north-eastward are now about 2000 yards from the city, but in other sectors are still four to seven miles away.