LATE START

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 July 1942, Page 3

LATE START

iIN ENEMY OFFENSIVE BUT YEAR’S BIGGEST CLASH NOW IN PROGRESS. NAZI ATTEMPT TO REACH VITAL RAILWAY. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, July 4. In the year’s biggest clash of arms, the Germans are throwing in division after division in parallel attacks on three sectors of the 150-mile front between Kursk and Kharkov, reports Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. It is estimated that. 2000 German tanks are participating or standing in reserve, while masses of German bombers and fighters are supporting the ground forces. The enemy, however, despite numerical superiority, has been unable so far to make any

appreciable progress. The Russian midday communique mentions fighting last night on the Kursk-Byelgorod-Volchamsk fronts and it seems clear that the present German offensive from Kursk to Kharkov is the long-delayed “spring” offensive and aimed primarily at the main Mos-cow-Rostov railway about Voronezh. There is little 7 doubt that the offensive started later than the Germans meant. It was delayed first by Marshal Timoshenko’s attack above Kharkov, which had considerable initial success and undoubtedly upset the German plans. It was probably delayed still further by the prolonged and unexpected defence of Sebastopol, which, besides confining a certain number of German and Rumanian divisions, tied up a large amount of their air force.