HEAVY BLOWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 February 1943, Page 3

HEAVY BLOWS

Inflicted on routed GERMANS ROADS LITTERED WITH DEAD AND WRECKAGE. STRONG COUNTER-ATTACKS REPULSED. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, February 18. Today’s Moscow communique reports new Russian successes all along the front from the Donetz Basin to north of Kharkov. In the heart of the Donetz Basin the Germans have been strongly counterattacking with tanks and infantry, but Moscow reports the repulse of the enemy with heavy losses and says that the Russians are steadily progressing. From Kharkov the Red Army is driving to the north-west, south-west and south and by yesterday evening had already advanced some 35 miles. The latest communique says that the Russians are “inflicting heavy blows on the remnants of the routed Germans.” The road of the retreat is littered with abandoned equipment, German dead and wreckage. It is also announced that the Russans have broken through the enemy line of defence north-west of Kursk, and the enemy are in general retreat south of Orel after suffering big losses. Berlin radio yesterday stated that powerful Russian forces broke through in the Orel sector, but the- Germans counter-attacked and closed the gap. The capture of Kharkov is described in London military circles as confirmation that the Germans are in full retreat on the whole front from Kursk to Taganrog, (says British Official Wreless). With regard to the German divisions in the Donetz bend, the Germans have put very strong forces into the Stalino corner and so far have been able to

keep the mouth of the sack open. In the Caucasus the Germans are still holding the bridgehead on the Taman Peninsula, and it is likely that a certain number have got away, but the conditions for the withdrawal must be difficult. The Germans never had a chance of taking up positions outside Kharkov. They called up all the aircraft they could muster to try to save the situation, but Russian bombers and divebombers were also busy, and the roads around the city were soon littered and blocked by the ruins of enemy lorries and tanks. With the lines already broken, the German positions crumbled. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Moscow correspondent says that the Germans had no time to wreck Kharkov.