RUSSIAN GRIP
ON STRATEGIC RAILWAYS FURIOUS GERMAN ATTACKS. TERRIFIC EFFORT TO STOP RED ARMY. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, February 28. The Germans are benefiting from the thaw which has slowed up the Russian advance in many sectors and are now building up the most stubborn resistance on all active fronts. Apparently they are making a terrific effort to hold the Russian advances, which menace both their whole southern positions and the Dnieper line. Moscow correspondents emphasise the obstinate fighting in the bloody struggle for the Donetz Basin. It has been heightened especially in the central region where the Wehrmacht is countering furiously to loosen the Russian grip on the strategic railways. Today’s German communique claims that Kramatorskaya and Losovaya have been recaptured, but Moscow does not admit the loss of these places.
Despatches from Moscow state that the Russians are still fighting southwest of Kramatorskaya where they have smashed repeated German coun-ter-attacks, while General Vatoutin’s columns have advanced south-west of Voroshilovsk, overcoming all attempts to halt them, and killing three thousand during one German counterstroke. COMPLICATED POSITION MUCH HINGES ON PRESENT BATTLE. MINIATURE SIEGFRIED LINE TO BE OVERCOME. (Received This Day, 12.25 p.m.) LONDON, February 28. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the Red Army’s position in the Donetz Basin is complicated by the terraced terrain on the north coast of the Sea of Azov, where the Germans have constructed a miniature Siegfried Line, converting every hill into an underground fortress, sometimes defended by twelve rows of barbed wire. These are linked up with deep communication trenches General Malinovski, who is already astride the Stalino-Taganrog railway, faces difficulties in clearing up this threat to his flank before developing a pincer along the south side of the Donetz Basin. Russian heavy artillery is now thundering against the German defences, smashing blockhouses and trenches and driving the Germans out step by step. “The Times” Moscow correspondent says the prolonged violence of the battle in the north-west Donetz Basin surpasses any fought in South Russia since that at Kotelnikovo. The issue is still in the balance. The Germans have repeatedly counter-attacked, but the full power of the strong armour they brought up from Dnepropetrovsk, with a view to recovering Kramatorskaya, struck the Russians on February 20, and the struggle has raged for 72 hours. The Russians also possessed big armoured forces, resulting in great tank battles in which the Germans lost more than a hundred tanks. The fighting shifted south-west of Kramatorskaya on February 23, where it continued with fluctuating success German tank losses were again over a hundred, but the Germans are attempting to drive a wedge between the Russians in the Donetz Basin and those pressing towards the Dnieper. The Germans are i sparing nothing. Their armour is still powerful. The outcome of the battle will have most important repercussions on a large part of the southern front. The fact that the Germans are risking a substantial force,'despite the danger of being trapped, shows the importance attached to the battle. Other correspondents state that as the Germans are grimly clinging to the southernmost line, the Russians are thrusting deep into the Ukraine west of Kharkov towards Poltava and Kiev, and also towards Orel, forcing the Germans to hurl in reinforcements, including planes. The Luftwaffe, in waves of 10 to 20, is incessantly pounding the Russian forward positions in the Orel area. The Red Air Force is also very active. According to the British United Press correspondent, powerful Russian tank and infantry forces west of . Kharkov have twice in the past 24 hours forged ahead in the teeth of fierce resistance, occupying towns and villages. Poltava is already partially outflanked northwards and southwards, but the thickly populated country is filled with small villages, which must be cleared singly. MAXIMUM SUPPORT FORMIDABLE ALLIED AIR OPERATIONS. PREPARATIONS FOR FINAL BLOW. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) RUGBY, February 28. The R.A.F. yesterday gave maximum support in Northern Tunisia, where the enemy continued his attacks, states an agency war correspondent at Algiers. Hurricane bombers and Spitfires throughout the day bombed and gunned enemy troops, tanks and supply columns. In the Sidi Nsir area, south-west of Mateur, bombers scored four direct hits on a column, leaving many lorries on fire. Later they bombed a concentration of fifty vehicles and also scored a direct hit on a farmhouse, causing a big explosion and a petrol fire. Spitfires shot up transport from a low level. Bombers also scored a direct hit oh a road along which tanks were travelling. Weather conditions restricted air activity in other sectors of the front. In an attack on a convoy near Messina Straits on Friday by Fortresses four ships were hit. One is believed to have sunk immediately and three were set on fire. Another war correspondent at Algiers states that almost daily more airfields are becoming available to the Eighth Army, as it advances, so squadrons can smash the enemy supply lines and weaken the Axis for the final blow by the combined armies. For this ultimate air campaign the brains of the Allies have been pooled and British, American and French airmen will use the same fields and work together. For the final battle of the north will come the air armadas of the south, composed of squadrons of the R.A.F., South Africans, Australians, Canadians, Greeks and Fighting French, all of whom have I
slashed the enemy out of the sky over 1,500 miles of desert. On the other flank will be the Americans and experienced squadrons of the R.A.F., who since the landing have destroyed 669 enemy planes for the loss of 286 of their own. British patrols on the left flank of the Eighth Army have been even more active during the last 24 hours.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 March 1943, Page 4
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963RUSSIAN GRIP Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 March 1943, Page 4
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