STRUCK BY THE RUSSIANS AT VORONEZH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1942, Page 3

STRUCK BY THE RUSSIANS AT VORONEZH

Germans East of Don Cut Off POSITION IN SOUTH STILL SERIOUS SOVIET ARMIES INTACT BUT RETREATING LONDON, July 21. The Russians have improved their positions round Voronezh, but the situation further south remains serious. The main battle on. the southern sector is in the bend of the Don, where the enemy continues to advance. The Russians are giving ground in this area, but their retreat is orderly and their armies are still intact. They are destroying valuable coal mines as they go. The Germans claim a further advance of 50 miles in the direction of Stalingrad and that Rostov is being attacked from three sides. The Germans, state that the city is on fire and that all the bridges over the Don have been destroyed. There is no confirmation of these reports from Moscow. At Voronezh there is a very different tale to tell. A powerful force of Russian tanks suddenly fell upon the flank of the Germans taking part in the attack on the approaches of Voronezh. The Russian forces occupied the main road west of the town and. all the enemy forces east of the Don are now cut off. North-west of Voronezh the Russians are driving down the west bank of the Don and the Germans are retreating. The latest German report is that the Russians have been striking ceaselessly for the past two days and that the Germans have had to withdraw.