DEFEATS IN RUSSIA CAUSE OF CONCERN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 January 1943, Page 3

DEFEATS IN RUSSIA CAUSE OF CONCERN

Withdrawal from Voronezh Area DEVELOPING THREAT TO ENEMY ARMIES IN DONETZ BASIN RAPID SOVIET PROGRESS IN CAUCASUS ' LONDON, January 25.' As the Germans in Southern Russia fall back in their greatest retreat since the war began, a German military spokesman, General Dietmar, in a broadcast from Berlin, has been making desperate efforts to reassure the people at home. He informed the German people of what he described as the extent of the German defeat in Russia. He said the present situation at Stalingrad and in the Don Bend was serious for the time and was still causing concern. . > Berlin has admitted that the Voronezh bridgehead has now been evacuated by Axis troops. It is not clear what the Germans mean, as they have never occupied Voronezh itself. The German withdrawal from this line may be a move to straighten their line or it may be preparing the way for bad news further south, where the Russians are exerting tremendous pressure. The Russian drives in the direction of Kharkov and Rostov now threaten the whole of Hitler’s armies in the Donetz basin. In the Caucasus, the Soviet forces are making rapid headway towards the key railway junction towns of Kropotkin and Tikhoretsk A Russian commentator, Colonel Vassiliev, in a broadcast, said that the German resistance on the southern and southwestern fronts had noticeably strengthened in the last few days, after receiving reinforcements, but the Russians were repulsing enemy counter-attacks, and were continuing to press on.