POWERFUL ENCIRCLING MOVEMENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1943, Page 3

POWERFUL ENCIRCLING MOVEMENTS

Against Kursk and Rostov WHOLE ENEMY DEFENCE SYSTEM IN DONETZ AREA MENACED /' ATTEMPTED ESCAPE OF GERMANS * " IN CAUCASUS LONDON, February 5. Strong- Russian forces are now threatening Kursk, the hinge of the main German winter defence line between South and Central Russia. Three mobile Russian columns are bearing down on Kursk from' the north, east and south-east. The column advancing from the north, along the railway, is within 25 miles of the city. The other two columns are between 30 and 40 miles away. A big battle of annihilation is going on behind the spearheads as the Russians tighten their grip on large Axis forces left behind by the speed of the Russian advance. These forces are first encircled and then split up. In nine days’ fighting, the Russians have already killed or captured 44,000 enemy troops. The Russians driving towards Kharkov are meeting with stiffer German resistance. The Germans rushed up infantry reinforcements from deep in the Ukraine, but despite this the Russians have captured more towns and villages in the past 24 hours. Another big Russian attack is directed against Rostov, perhaps the most vital of all Nazi bases in Southern Russia. Driving down from the north and north-west, the Russians are threatening to outflank not only Rostov but the whole of the German defence system in the Donetz basin. Further south there is a race between the Germans trying to escape across the Straits of Kerch and the Russians, who are trying to cut off their retreat. Russian tanks are reported to have broken through the enemy defences at several points and the Germans say that other Russian forces have landed in their rear on the coast between Novorossisk and the Straits of Kerch.