BEST NEWS OF WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 January 1943, Page 4

BEST NEWS OF WAR

TO COME FROM RUSSIA # RELIEF OF LENINGRAD. NEW POSSIBILITIES OPENED UP. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) LONDON, January 19. “The best news of the war from Russia,’’ is the description given of special Russian communiques by the “Dally Mail’sV military correspondent, who joins in the chorus of praise of the Russians’ achievements. it is pointed out that the ijelief of Leningrad will greatly aid the Soviet war effort, for Leningrad is a vast arms factory and can again become a great supply base. It is expected that the Russians may attempt to develop their relieving thrust into a major attack, causing the Germans to retreat precipitately from the whole Leningrad front.

The relief of Leningrad will give more freedom to the Russian fleet when the Gulf of Finland is ice free, and may enable the Russians to drive the Finns from the Karelian Isthmus. It is believed in London that the crossing of the Upper Donetz at Kamensk, with the new offensive south from Voronezh, has opened up many possibilities. One view is that there appears to be no defensive line before Rostov against attack from the north. The crossing of the Manich River is regarded as equally important as the forcing of the Donetz, for which reason it is considered that the Rostov gate to the Caucasus is closing rapidly and that the German Caucasian army of 25 divisions will have to act quickly if it is to escape the fate of the Stalingrad army. “Today,” says the “Daily Mail’s” military correspondent, “little remains of the German gains of last summer, and Hitler's great German army is in peril for the first time.” GERMANY’S NEED OF MEN. Germany’s need of men is commented on by “The Times” diplomatic correspondent. “The German public is being told,” he says, “in every reference to the war in Russia, about the enemy’s superiority in men and materials. It looks as though an excuse for the failure of the High Command, under Hitler, to take Stalingrad and hold the 1 gains made at a grievous sacrifice of life, is now being sought in the fail-; ure —real or not —of the home front to provide the means of victory.” The correspondent adds that new cannon fodder will be provided from several sources. A sterner comb-put of German factories is foreshadowed. The “Manchester Guardian” says manpower is the great problem of all the belligerents this year. The Russian offensive and the Allied offensives to come in Western Europe will result in German production depending further on foreign labour, but the occupied countries are showing an increasing' reluctance to provide it. The “Guardian” also believes that Russia will have to conserve her resources of manpower very carefully. The latest Russian communiques, coming after a successful two months’ offensive, have altered several opinions in London and many are now con. fidently expecting that the Soviet will advance well beyond the line reached last winter. It is pointed out "that the Russians’ offensive last winter was a desperate, if magnificent improvisation, but this year’s campaign, even when the Germans were advancing, never saw the strategic initiative pass from the Russians’ hands. They planned and mounted a counter-blow when the Germans were actually advancing, and they are improvising no longer. MIGHTIEST OF WAR BARRAGE BEFORE SOVIET ATTACK. WILD SCENES OF JOY IN LENINGRAD. (Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, January 19. Remarkable scenes were witnessed in the streets of Leningrad when troops marched in to relieve the city after a siege of 500 days, reports Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. Night shift workers remained at the factories, but in the morning they joined in tremendous demonstrations throughout the city, which had gone wild with excitement. Messages reaching Moscow disclose that one of the mightiest artillery barrages of all time was needed to smash the erormous German defence system. The barrage began at dawn on January 12 ant continued with terrific intensity f<?r two and a half hours, which was twice the length of the barrages heralding the Stalinrgad and Middle Don offensives. Shells fell continuously ( over an area ten miles square, causing almost complete devastation and so dazing the Germans who survived that they offered almost no immediate resistance. The Russians were thus able to make their initial advances with the smallest losses . Shells from the Russian Baltic Fleet and coastal batteries also screamed over Leningrad. Immediately the guns stopped, Russian shock troops went into action, with Sinyaivno as their objective. ..They struck from the Colkhov River and also southward sfrom the frozen Lake Ladoga, and from Leningrad itself. HEROIC RED MARINES. The Germans held a wide semicircular stretch, curving along the south bank of the Neva River, from their main positions around Leningrad to a point on the south-western shore of Lake Ladoga. This included the town of Shlusselburg, but not the town’s island fortress in the Neva River, where Russian marines withstood a siege within a siege, under constant bombardment, and were fed precariously at night time by small boats. The Russians’ aim was to split the Germans into small groups. The Red Army also surprised the Germans on the shore of Lake Ladoga by attacking across the lake, from the island of Lipka. The Russians from Leningrad had the task of crossing the frozen Neva, over which they manhandled heavy guns. They arrived to find that the barrage had smashed the German concrete emplacements. There followed for several days some of the bloodiest fighting of the whole Russian campaign, but the Russian artillery pinned down the Germans, while infantry constantly rushed the broken

positions. Sector after sector was reduced, until a gap ten miles wide had been forced and Leningrad was again in touch with the outside world. NEW TROUBLES FOR UNEASY FINLAND. RUSSIANS MAY TURN NORTH. I (Received This Day, 11.5 a.m.) j LONDON, January 19. I Political observers expect the great Russian victory at Leningrad to have important repercussions on Finland, who has long been uneasy about her part in the war. The prospect of the victorious Russian Army turning north and sweeping across the Karelian Isthmus into Finland is likely to cause increased war weariness among the Finns. Berlin is silent on the relief of Leningrad, but Mario Appelius, a Rope radio commentator, gave this Italian reaction: “We have been deceived. When Russia fought her first battle against Finland we saw her attacking with ill-equipped armies. Little we knew that behind this facade stood huhdreds upon hundreds of magnificently trained divisions ready to march.” TREMENDOUS THRUSTS RUSSIANS SWEEPING IN. ESPECIALLY TOWARDS ROSTOV. (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, January 19. The mighty Russian offensive, developing from the Gulf of Fin- - land to the Caucasus, sweeps on, especially toward Rostov. The Red armies are making gains on all fronts, although progress is easier in sectors where the Germans are spread-eagled by the momentum of the attack. Moscow correspondents say the Russians are within 75 miles of Armavir and are simultaneously driving towards Stavropol. The threat to these two Caucasian rail centres is increasing, as is the threat to Rostov, from several spearheads. The Red Army, after the capture of Divnoie, is thrusting westward along the Manich Canal, probably aiming to link up with the troops pushing forward against Salsk. Other forces are advancing on Orlovk, while along the Don the capture of townships continues. Another Russian drive is being made against Likhvaya, a junction of the Stalingrad-Rostov and Voronezh-Rostov railways. General Golikov’s men southward of Voronezh are swiftly pushing westward, northwestward and south-westward. Ski detachments, armed with tommy-guns and armour busters, are racing across snowdrifts, disrupting the enemy’s communications, wiping out Axis pockets and capturing booty and prisoners. General Golikov’s westerly spearheads, advancing on the strategic rail junction of Kursk, are now 30 miles west of the Don. ADDITIONAL GAINS ANNOUNCED BY MOSCOW. (Received This Day, 1.5 p.m.) LONDON, January 19. Additional Russian captures announced from Moscow include Urasova and the railway station at Byelayakalitva. . COORDINATED PLANS SUPERIOR GENERALSHIP. DEMONSTRATED BY THE RED ARMY. (Received This Day, 1 p.m.) LONDON, January 19. “The Times” Moscow correspondent emphasises that, while the news from all the Russian fronts indicates a general advance and resounding blows against the enemy’s troops and equipment, the entire battle for Leningrad, culminating in the relief of the city, shews a growing co-ordination of the Russian effort amid unique perplexities. The Red Army everywhere is proving its superiority over the Wehrmacht in generalship, organisation and fighting ability. Events equally momentous ar’e occurring in the south, where the Russians over 500 miles have established a virtually connected front and are advancing on four broad salients, and sometimes threatening to envelop positions vital for defence of the Germans’ summer gains. Maps in Moscow newspapers include Kharkov, Kursk and Rostov, suggesting the building up of a gigantic front against them. Nothing similar has occurred in the Red Army’s history. The only comparison is the height of the German success against Russia in 1941, or Marshal Foch’s offensive in 1918, when the same co-ordination was apparent against an enemy whose reserves were being drained. The Russian successes are not being achieved without heavy losses, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” military correspondent. Great forces are engaged in this campaign, and the grave losses inflicted on the enemy give some measure of our ally’s casualties. The Berlin radio, betraying anxiety as to the fate of entrapped forces, says the fiercest struggle is being fought

against Russian superiority at Stalingrad, where the enemy is attacking without respite, with brigades of tanks and infantry, pouring in thousands of shells. The German News Agency admitted that strong Russian thrusts had gained considerable ground in the West Caucasus, but claimed that the attackers had been cut off and broken up.