NO SIGN OF CHECK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 February 1943, Page 3

NO SIGN OF CHECK

IN MOMENTUM OF WESTERN DRIVE Steel Arc Forming Round Kharkov GERMANS TRYING TO EXTRICATE FORCES CLOSE THREAT TO NOVOROSSISK' REPORTED LONDON, February 14. THE CAPTURE OF ROSTOV AND THAT OF THE BIG DONETZ TOWN OF VOROSHILOVGRAD ARE ANNOUNCED IN A SPECIAL MOSCOW COMMUNIQUE. VOROSHILOVGRAD WAS TAKEN AFTER SEVERAL DAYS’ FIERCE FIGHTING. Summing up the position as it stood, before the Russians had recaptured the great Caucasian gateway of Rostov and vital areas to the west and north, the Moscow radio’s military commentator, Colonel Vassiliev, said that in less than three months the Red Army has recovered almost all the territory which the Germans took five months to occupy in their offensive which was launched last summer. The vast area reoccupied by Russia was equal to half of Germany. A message from Moscow today suggests that the Germans are trying to get some of their troops away from Kharkov, before the Russians cut off their retreat. One correspondent says the railway from Kharkov to the west is packed with trains taking away these troops. The trains are making fine targets for Soviet low-flying aircraft. Russian troops are battering at the approaches to Kharkov, after forming a steel arc half-way round the city. Already they are less than a dozen miles away from Kharkov on the south-east and heavy guns are pounding away at the defences. In this area Russians troops have overcome the enemy’s stubborn resistance, continue to forge ahead and have occupied several more places. At the other end of the front the Russians have cut the railway to Bryansk, at a point 20 miles north-west of Kharkov. They have outflanked the city on the other side and are menacing the German line of retreat to the west. Mr Paul' Winterton, the London Moscow correspondent, says there is no sign of any check in the momentum of the Russian drive westward through the Ukraine. The Germans are being given no opportunity to disengage themselves. Russian tanks, lorries and guns are rollj|ng forward to keep up the pressure. Reports from Berlin state that in the Western Caucasus the Germans are trying to get out of the Black Sea port of Novorossisk. There is no official news of this from Moscow.