FIERCE FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 February 1943, Page 3

FIERCE FIGHTING

GRIM STRUGGLE ON RUSSIAN FRONT Attempts to Stem Soviet Drives ENEMY CLAIMS RECAPTURE OF TWO KEY TOWNS LONDON, February 25. The Germans are making fierce attempts to check the Russian Army’s growing threat to the western half of theDonetz Basin. Fierce fighting is reported near Kramatorsk and Krasnoarmeisk, the two key railway centres captured by the Russians more than a week ago. The Germans are throwing in masses of tanks, infantry and aircraft and the Berlin radio says today that both these railway centres are now back in German hands. There is no confirmation of this claim from Moscow. The latest reports from the Russian capital were of fierce tank battles raging round both towns. The capture of another place by the Russians well to the west of Kharkov is reported. The Russians are still advancing towards the important railway junction of Poltava. Further north, the Russians are steadily reducing German strongholds defending the important base of Orel, which is hemmed in on three sides. The garrison has only one main road and railway link with the enemy forces in the rear. The main emphasis of the reports from the Russian battlefront is again on the area north-west of Kharkov, where the Russians have captured another town, and also in the last curving battlefield of the Donetz Basin where, in spite of the reports of a thaw, the fighting is reported to have reached a pitch of unparalleled ferocity, with the Germans battling resolutely to hold the Russian drives. In their continued advance toward Orel the Russians at one point have captured 212 vehicles loaded with supplies, indicating the speed of the German retreat.