BATTLE FOR VORONEZH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1942, Page 4

BATTLE FOR VORONEZH

MAY BE BIGGEST OF WAR IN RUSSIA AND PERHAPS DECISIVE Germans Still Hurling in Masses nf Tanks and Troops i HEAVY ENEMY LOSSES IN FIGHTING ON WESTERN BANK HUGE PRICE PAID ALSO FOR LIMITED GAINS ON KALININ FRONT (By Telegraph. —Press Association. —Copyright.) (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m.) LONDON, July 8. “Sighting is blazing up westward of Voronezh into what is likely to be the biggest and perhaps the decisive battle of the war in Russia,” says a Moscow message. The Germans continue to hurl in masses of tanks and troops, with a savage determination indicative of the significance they are attaching to the struggle for Voronezh. It now appears that the German break through westward of Voronezh was only on a narrow sector. They are novr attempting to widen the wedge and simultaneously are seeking to force the passage of the River Don. Three days’ fighting on the western river bank cost the Germans 200 tanks. “Russian Bashkir cavalrymen, on one sector of the Voronezh front, mowed down two battalions of German infantry. Today’s German communique stated that the Russians had counter-attacked north-west of Voronezh, but claimed that this move had failed. The enemy communique also said that Russian attacks northward and north-west of Orel had been repelled. The “Pravda” reported that the Germans had succeeded in driving wedges into several sectors of the Kalinin front, but were paying a huge price for every yard of territory gained. Fierce artillery duels were fought throughout the front yesterday.