DONETZ REACHED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 January 1943, Page 3

DONETZ REACHED

SOVIET ADVANCE ON WIDE FRONT EXTENDING HOLD ON VITAL RAILWAYS. FACILITATING FURTHER ACTION. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) RUGBY, January 18. The Russian front is Sjtill in motion .in many areas between Voronezh and the Caucasus, but the latest and most striking development appears to be that since capturing Millerovo, the Russians have 'gone on to reach the Donetz River on a front of some 50 miles on both sides of Kamenskaya. At the westernmost point this brings them only about 20 miles from the great Donetz industrial country, and it is probably somewhere between there and Kamenskaya that they have crossed the river. East of Kamenskaya, too, the Russians have captured villages on the Donetz, from which they command the lateral railway eastwards from Likhaya. Further south the Russians have advanced to within 25 to 35 miles respectively of the large towns of Starobielsk and Valuiki. South of the Don a further advance has been made along the railway to the neighbourhood of Proletarskaya, while in the Caucasus the pursuit of the enemy tlong the main line has continued to nearly half-way from Georgievsk to Armavir. As a result of the fall of Millerovo, the Russians hold on the railway from a point 50 miles south of Voronezh is now secure up to 50 miles west of the river. Therefore nearly 200 miles of this important lateral lailway can be used for the transfer of troops and supplies from one position to another.