IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 July 1942, Page 3

IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA

Developed With Great Power MASSES OF MEN AND MATERIAL THROWN IN SOVIET FORCES FIGHTING STUBBORNLY IN RETREAT LONDON, July 19. The Russian armies on the southern front are fighting- stubbornly as they fall back before the German armoured offensive. The German spearhead threat on the Lower Don has been broadened into a wide front. Great masses of men and material, including- many tanks and planes, are being thrown into the battle by the enemy. One tank division after another is pushed into action in an attempt to break through the Soviet defences. Towns and villages throughout the area are in flames, principally from terror-bombing- by the German air force. The Germans are making- progress in movements designed to encircle and isolate the industrial region in the Donetz basin. At some places the enemy has broken through the Russian lines and is striking- against the flanks of Russian units. The whole situation, a. correspondent states, is fraught with the greatest danger. , There is no confirmation of a German claim to be advancing towards Rostov from Taganrog or to have reached the Don itself east of Rostov. On the upper reaches of the Don the Germans are still held , in their efforts to carry the fighting east of the 'Don River. At some points, in the Voronezh area, the Russians are makingsteady headway with counter-attacks against strong- enemy resistance.