STILL UNDECIDED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 March 1943, Page 3

STILL UNDECIDED

FEROCIOUS STRUGGLE FOR KHARKOV UNCERTAIN GERMAN CLAIM. SOVIET ADMITS RETIREMENT WEST OF CITY. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, Noon.) LONDON, March 12. The German news agency claims the recapture of Kharkov. A German High Command communique issued some hours earlier stated that the Germans haR penetrated into Kharkov city from several sides, and added that violent street fighting was in progress. Moscow does not admit the loss of Kharkov. According to a later message both the Germans and Italians have reported that the Russians still hold the southern part of Kharkov. The latest Soviet report is that, west of Kharkov, the Soviet forces in one locality have retired to new positions. Today’s Press dispatches from Moscow say the ferocious battle in the Kharkov area may re-echo the terrors of the momentous struggle for Stalingrad. Simultaneously, two great Russian armies are converging against Smolensk, Hitler’s biggest base in Central Russia. A gigantic tug-of-war is going on in these vital sections. Victory on either front may have enormous repercussions on the other. The giant antagonists are grimly thrusting on with their respective offensives, each possibly aiming, by their own successes, to force the enemy to relinquish his drive in a sector hundreds of miles away. Victory would thus be double-edged and may go to the army which outstays the other in a shattering drive. SOVIET OFFENSIVE MUCH MORE THREATENING THAN A YEAR AGO HEAVY CALL ON GERMAN RESERVES. BATTLES RAGING OVER WIDE AREA. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) RUGBY, March 12. A military correcpondent suggests, that even if Kharkov is taken by the Germans, it seems unlikely that it could be used at once for German pushes eastwards. The Germans have suffered enormous losses and it is improbable that they have the necessary strategic reserves at the moment. Despite the thaw, fighting continues throughout the Eastern front with an intensity not exceeded by the battles of last summer, autumn and winter, says a Moscow message. Unlike the fighting of a year ago, the Germans are throwing in reserves on the grand scale. This is because the Soviet offensive is incomparably more threatening than was last year’s and is forcing the Germans to bring out their main tank forces and to keep them in the field. A “Red Star” commentator writes: “Very stubborn engagements, which have assumed the character of gigantic battles, have developed in the Donbas area, at Kharkov, west of Sudzha and at Sychevsk.” The whole front, except the northern sector, js full of activity, with great battles raging. ' The Germans are trying to wrest the initiative in every sector.