SAVAGE FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 July 1942, Page 3

SAVAGE FIGHTING

INITIATIVE AT VORONEZH RETAINED BY RUSSIANS. NUMBER OF VILLAGES RETAKEN. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) 1 y LONDON, July 19. Today’s ' Moscow communique indicates that the German thrust south to Rostov is still pressing forward and that fighting continues at Voronezh. The communique said that the Russian troops last night fought the enemy at Voronezh and that there were no important changes elsewhere. A supplement to the communique says that in the fighting at Voronezh the Russians continue to press back the enemy slowly, and that in one place Soviet troops penetrated the German first line and captured 35 antitank guns. Marshal Timoshenko recaptured several strong points and the enemy has also been driven out of a number of villages in the Voronezh region. The National Broadcasting Company, in a broadcast from Moscow, says Voronezh is in ruins and the population has been evacuated. A Moscovz dispatch says that a furious battle is raging at Voronezh, the Germans, in their determination to hold the bridehead at all costs, flinging in all available forces, including units from other fronts. The Russians retain the initiative in Voronezh, but find it necessary to fight savagely for every inch. The British United Press correspondent in Moscow says that Russian-man-ned American Airacobra fighters, par-

t'icipating in the defence of Voronezh, shot down 38 enemy planes in two days. American Boston and Boeing bombers are also giving a good account of themselves. There is still no reliable news about the fighting at Voroshilovgrad, the important industrial town in the Donetz Basin, and the Germans have not repeated their claims to have captured it. There is also no further news of the other German move toward Stalingrad and it appears that the German thrust has slowed down. The Russians retreating south-east-ward from Millerovo were subjected to furious and unceasing attacks. The Germans, attempting to drive eastward in the direction of Stalingrad and southward toward Rostov, flung in. huge reserves of tanks and infantry. The Germans, in addition to driving on frontally, tried successive turning movements.