BEING PILED UP FOR HITLER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1942, Page 3

BEING PILED UP FOR HITLER

Russian Attacks Extending Successfully ON MIDDLE DON FRONT AND ALONG RAILWAY TO ROSTOV GERMAN RESISTANCE OVERWHELMED AT VITAL POINTS LONDON, December 23. Soviet armies on the Middle Don front are still piling up a terrible Christmas box for Hitler in the shape of the biggest military setback the Germans have suffered since the war began. In spite of heavy snow and blizzards, Russian heavy tanks are moving forward rapidly, with the Germans falling back before them in disorder. Through the gaps broken by the tanks in the German defences, masses of Soviet infantry are moving up to get to grips with the enemy and consolidate the newly-won territory. The Russians are now fanning out across open country and already the whole of the northern part of the great Don bend and of the Moscow-Rostov railway and the area back to the Don is in Soviet hands. The enemy has had no time to. organise any real stand. A rearguard of picked troops is counter-attacking at some points, but is being overwhelmed and wiped out by the Russians. It is not known how near the Russians are to Millerovo, but it is clear that the town is seriously threatened from the north and from the south. Around Kotelnikovo heavy fighting is still in progress. The Germans are making strenuous efforts to stem the Soviet pressure and have launched a number of new attacks, but most of these have been thrown back. On the central front the Russians are tightening their grip on their newly-gained territory. Enemy counter-attacks have been repelled.