SWEEPING ON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 February 1943, Page 4

SWEEPING ON

RUSSIANS CAPTURE MORE TOWNS ADVANCE IN UKRAINE. OFFENSIVE DEVELOPING. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) RUGBY, February 17. A special Soviet communique states: In the Ukraine today Soviet troops, after stubborn fighting, occupied the town and railway junction of Slovansk, ninety miles south-east of Kharkov, Tovenki, Sverdlovsk and Bogodukhov, thirty miles west-north-west of Kharkov, and Zmiyev, twenty miles south of Kharkov. In the Kursk area Soviet troops, continuing to develop their offensive, have occupied Graivoron, ninety miles due south of Kursk and forty miles north-west of Kharkov. GRIM DETERMINATION RUSSIAN PLAN TO DESTROY ENEMY. REPORTS OF NAZI SAVAGERY. (Received This Day, 1.10 p.m.) LONDON, February 17. General Golikov’s victorious forces are rolling on from Kharkov in pursuit of the defeated and retreating Germans. Moscow’s joy is reflected in the Soviet broadcasts, which indeed indicate the spirit of victory, which animates all Soviet Russia. The radio told the story of Kharkov over and over again, all day. Ukrainian writers and poets read and recited articles and poems, apparently written overnight, hailing the Red Army’s achievements and now the story is being told how Kharkov was taken, with the usual accompanying details of German terrorism. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the frozen bodies of some of the Gestapo’s victims were still dangling by their necks from balconies in the main streets as the Soviet troops entered the city. The civilian population suffered tortures from German savagery. Thousands of workers, who were among the most skilled in the Soviet Union, have been dragged off to slavery somewhere in the German rear. Those who remained were starved, robbed and forced to work on the German defences, under fire. The Berlin radio, describing the destruction that the Germans carried out in Kharkov said: “The town is a sea of flames. All military targets and traffic installations were blown up, making the centre impassable.” The Moscow radio says only part of the forces in the Kharkov city area escaped and they are being pursued by the Red Army and are being wiped out by guerillas. The greater part were either taken prisoner or left dead on the battlefield. The radio added: “Our plan is not merely to push back but to completely destroy the hated enemy. The Red Army is going on and will eventually finally carry out his destruction.” The Columbia Broadcasting System’s Moscow correspondent reports that the Russians are chasing the remnants of the S.S. Corps along the railway to Poltava. Another Moscow report says the Russians, pushing on from Kharkov in a swift night advance, have covered 10 miles of the 80 to the next German base at Poltava and are moving rapidly along the Kharkov-Poltava railway without encountering serious opposition. Other Russian columns are pushing along the sea of Azov shore from Rostov and now are within twelve miles of Taganrog, whose fall appears imminent. The German resistance is weakening. The fall of Novorossisk also seems imminent. Street fighting is reported there.