GERMAN HOPES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 February 1943, Page 3

GERMAN HOPES

EFFORT TO HOLD DONETZ ■ BASIN RECAPTURE OF VITAL CENTRES ORDERED. BUT RUSSIANS STILL ADVANCING (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, February 24. With the hopes of a thaw coming to their rescue it is evident that the German High Command intends to make an all-out effort to hold the Donetz Basin. Side by side with reports of Russian thrusts towards Kiev, dispatches from Moscow reveal that massed additional German infantry, tanks and artillery are being thrown in to the Kramatorskaya and Krasnoarmeysk areas. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the German High Command has ordered the recapture of these vital railway centres at all costs. The Germans therefore are launching ceaseless coun-ter-attacks, supported by groups of upwards of a hundred' tanks. The Russians. nevertheless,are pushing back the Germans and show their confidence in retaining Kramatorskaya and Krasnoarmeysk by continuing restoration work there. RUSSIAN CASUALTIES BERLIN’S LATEST CLAIMS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, February 23. Retorting to M. Stalin’s estimate of the German losses, Berlin radio asserted that the Russian casualties are now more than 18,000,000, of which nearly 12,000,000 are killed and wounded and more than 5,000,000 taken prisoner. The Russians have lost 34,000 tanks and 48,000 guns, the radio said.