PRESSURE KEPT UP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 December 1942, Page 3

PRESSURE KEPT UP

SLOW BUT STEADY GAINS MADE BY RUSSIANS ON MAIN BATTLEFRONTS. DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY TANKS. LONDON, December 18. Soviet troopsare slowly but steadily extending the gains made before Moscow and south-west of Stalingrad. On the central front they have captured a strong point near the Rzhev-Viazma highway, which has increased the pressure on the strained enemy communications in that area. The German losses in, the fighting arc believed to be about 1000. Soviet forces are attacking from both sides of a place which forms the apex of a triangle between Rzhev to the north-east and Viazma to the southeast. Correspondents say that bitter fighting is still going on in this area and that even slight progress is of great value, though achieved only at heavy cost.

Soviet fighter pilots areoperating all along the front up to Velikiye Luki. They are harassing enemy bomber formations and backing up the Russian land advance. The Germans are using more and more ski troops, supported by tanks and infantry; A number of them have been wiped out. A Moscow correspondent says that on the Stalingrad front a German thrust south-west of the city has been repulsed. The Russians have taken a number of fortified places and have also advanced on another south-western sector. In the Don Bend, 100 Russians defended a position against 55 enemy tanks, recently transferred from France. Twenty-seven of the tanks were destroyed, 22 by Soviet anti-tank riflemen. Inside Stalingrad Soviet forces are still making limited gains in the difficult task of dragging the enemy out of shattered buildings. In the Caucasus the Red Army continues offensive action in spite of torrential rain and snowstorms.

THREAT TO SMOLENSK

GREATER THAN HAD BEEN SUPPOSED. RUSSIANS ATTACKING GRIMLY ON CENTRAL FRONT. l.By Telegraph—i Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.15 p.m.) LONDON, December 18. The snow-swept central front today is the scene of most significant fighting. The Russians apparently continue to edge forward through the hills and forests in a great drive against the German quadrilateral based on Smolensk. Correspondents emphasise, however, that every hard-fought inch gained is costing the Russians dear. The Germans are not slackening in their opposition and are using ski troops and dive-bombers for flank attacks. The extent of the Russian penetration of the Rzhev-Viazma Railway, which is the key to the German supply system in the Smolensk sector, is not yet known, but the British United Press Moscow correspondent says the threat to Smolensk is greater than had previously been realised. The Russian capture of a strong point in the viciAity of the Rzhev-Viazma highway also increases the pressure on the enemy’s already strained communications.