THAW EXTENDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 March 1943, Page 3

THAW EXTENDS

BUT RUSSIANS GAIN MORE LOCAL SUCCESSES IN ALL FOUR MAIN BATTLE AREAS. GERMAN COUNTER-ATTACKS REPELLED. LONDON, February 28. In spite of the thaw, which has extended as far north as Kharkov, and stiffening enemy resistance, the Russians have succeeded in making fresh local gains on the four main battle sectors. Soviet columns at the extreme southern end of the front have still further cramped the Nazi foothold in the Caucasus by capturing more villages. West of Rostov, Berlin says, the Red Army is laying down a heavy barrage, as if it were a prelude to largescale attacks. Powerful concentrations of tanks and other forces are reported in this area. More German counter-attacks southwest of Voronezh have been beaten back. In the heart of the Donetz Basin German counter-attacks made, yesterday, were thrown back. Today’s German communique repeats the claim that the Germans have fetaken Krasmatorsk. West of Kharkov, the Russians have taken more villages and enemy strongholds and have gained similar local successes west of Kursk. MORE CAPTURES SEVERAL LARGE LOCALITIES. GERMAN ARMOURED FORCES SUFFER LOSSES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) RUGBY, February 28. The Russian offensive has again moved forward westward of Kharkov and northward of Kursk, a Soviet communique this morning reports. The Russians took several large localities west of Kharkov and one large place west of Kursk. Several more places were also taken in the Kuban area and the advance was resumed south-west of Voroshilovgrad, where enemy attacks failed, as they did also south-west of Kramatorskaya, where a large concentration of German armour tried to break through to a large place but was forced back to its original positions, after losing 28 tanks and at least 400 men. NAZI DEFEAT WINTER .ARRIVED TOO SOON. RUSSIANS EVASIVE STRATEGY. ZURICH, February 27. A semi-official German spokesman, Colonel Pleu, in an article in the Berlin “Voelkisher Beobachter.’ said: ‘The main reasons for the German defeats were that winter had come too soon, catching the Germans outside theii’ winter quarters: also, the Russians carried out an evasive strategy at Stalingrad and conserved a relatively large proportion of their fighting strength for a winter offensive. “The Germans fell victims of the Russians’ long-sighted strategy of attrition. The Russians were better able to withstand the climate, and the cold affected the German weapons, freezing oil, grease and telephone batteries. Food became uneatable and the bread had to be thawed. “The catastrophe was no fault of the troops, who fulfilled their duties to the bitter end, but was due purely to strategic causes.” The Swiss “Neue Zuercher Zeitung,” quoting Pleu, says that the last statement can be regarded as a sweeping criticism of Hitler’s leadership. TANK BATTLES RUSSIAN EXPERT'S COMMENT. ECONOMIC FACTOR AFFECTS POSITION. LONDON, February 27. A Russian tank expert, Major-Gener-al Belov, who used Matilda and Valentine tanks in the battle for Kharkov, told Reuter’s correspondent, “They are not bad machines. They achieve their objective in capable hands.” General Belov expressed the opinion that the huge tank battles have ended. In the early days of the RussianGerman war each side sometimes threw 4000 tanks into battle, but most of the tank engagements in the fight for Kharkov involved only 30 to 40. Three German divisions defending the eastern approaches of Kharkov had only 150 tanks General Belov attributed the change to the vast extension of the front and the economic factors involved in enormous tank production. Asked whether the early thaw would interrupt the offensive, Major-General Zatev, whose troops were the first to enter Kharkov, said that the Russian High Command had fully allowed for the weather factor in planning the winter offensive. He expected a prolonged lull due to the thaw, but said that further fronts could be expected in the middle of March. Describing the devastation of Kharkov, Reuter’s correspondent says it is not equal to that at Stalingrad, but in a 15-mile drive he saw only three undamaged bulidings. German tommygunners riddled men who possibly were fit to join the Red Army, and the Germans in departing hurled grenades into basements on the main boulevard where women and children were sheltering.