POWERFUL THRUSTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 July 1942, Page 3

POWERFUL THRUSTS

OPPOSED STOUTLY BY RUSSIANS At Voronezh and Further South SOVIET TROOPS FIGHTING LIKE LIONS AGAINST DEVELOPING THREAT TO ROSTOV AND CAUCASUS LONDON, July 13. Huge German forces are still battering at the defences of Voronezh. The enemy spearhead operating further south is trying to push its way further towards the Eastern Ukraine and the Caucasus. Meanwhile, Marshal Timoshenko’s armies are trying to hold several menacing thrusts. One of these drives has as its immediate objective the Moscow-Rostov railway, of which the enemy already holds a 50-mile stretch further north. Another powerful panzer spearhead, which the Russians are stoutly resisting, is aimed at the important city of Stalingrad, the centre of the Soviet tank and motor industry. Heavy fighting is still taking place round Voronezh. Though the city remains in Russian hands, the Russians admit that the situation has become even more precarious in the last 24 hours. The Soviet troops are fighting like lions in defence of Voronezh, which the Germans claimed to have captured a week ago. The Germans have succeeded in bringing hundreds of tanks and tens of thousands of infantry to the eastern side .of the Don. Although the city has lost its importance as a railway centre, the Russians are fighting back desperately to clear the eastern bank of the river of the invaders. They have succeeded in beating the enemy back from Voronezh at some points. On the Kalinin front, the Germans are keeping up their attempt to break through the Russian defences. Fighting has become still fiercer in the last 24 hours. The enemy is meeting with stubborn resistance at every point of attack.