THREE GREAT BATTLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1943, Page 4

THREE GREAT BATTLES

DEVELOPING IN RUSSIA DRIVE ON STARAYA RUSSA GATEWAY TO THE BALTIC. FIERCE STRUGGLE IN SOUTH. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.55 a.m.) LONDON, March 16. Three great battles are developing In Russia, each likely to be as bloody as any the Red Army has yet fought. They are battles firstly, for ifie Staraya Russa bastion, guardian of the gates to the Baltic; secondly, for Smolensk, still one of the biggest German bases in Russia, and thirdly, for the crossing of the middle Donetz, where the Germans are attempting to exploit the recapture of Kharkov. . t , T , ~, The British United Press Moscow correspondent says Marshal Timoshenko’s troops in the northern sectors, where the frost holds, have. overrun the Germans south of Lake Ilmen and are continuing to advance towards Staraya Russa, an important hedgehog fortress and a buttress to Pskov, which junctions the Staraya Russa-Riga-Len-ingrad and Vilna railways. The Russians so far are silent regarding this threat to the German communications in the vicinity of Leningrad. A German High Command spokesman asserted that the Russians had strongly attacked the Novgorod area, using heavy artillery barrages and many fighter planes and advancing over the ice of Lake Ilmen in motor sledges, but claimed that the attacks hadfbeen frustrated. "L THREAT TO SMOLENSK. Advancing in some sectors kneedeep in melting snow, the Russians are still driving towards Smolensk from three directions, Each column has made- a - considerable advance in the past'?24 hours.' The Russians on the northern wing, after a surprise attack across half-frozen marshes, captured the town of Batulino, 30 miles northeast of Smolensk, outflanking Nikitinka. In the centre, the advance along the Viazma-Smdlensk Railway is nearing Yarysevo, which is a strong German, position. The southern column, moving south-west Ward from Viazma, was last reported to have reached Miliatinsky Zavod, a few miles north of the Sukh'inich'i-SmOlerisk Railway and to be driving towards Durovo. , ~.., j - Three Hundred mites southward, the Germans are fighting hardest to develop their advantages gained at Kharkov. Th'e’y have apparently switched the main weight of their counterstroke to the middle r6a6hCs of the Dbrietz : River. Strong panzer and infantry for- j ces, which are numerically, superior to 1 the Russians are fiercely attacking be- j tween Isjriim and. Voroshilovgrad. The ( Russians so far have stemmed attempts ( to force passage’s of the Donetz- River, ( but a bitter struggle continues in. the Isyum area. A German military ] spokesman says/the Russians are employing reserves from the Orel area, ( and are now counter-attacking the , German spearheads west of Byelgorod, • but that all attacks have been repel- ] led. . . , . : Reuter’s .Moscow correspondent re- . ports that the Russians are forcing the ; pace on the Smolensk front and have i now driven eight miles beyond Kholm , and Zhirkovsky. ; KHARKOV TRAGEDY. J The same correspondent says the . Germans south of the Donetz are ex- ( erting pressure towards Rostov. Heavy j artillery pounded the Russian posi- ; tions all yesterday. It is now apparent j that the fall of Kharkov is. a heavy , blow, the possible effect of which on , the whole Russian front to Rostov can- . not be lightly, dismissed. Stating that ; the fail of Kharkov has robbed the ; Russians of part of the fruits of their ] winter offensive, the Reuter correspon- i dent says the real tragedy of its loss , is that, a quarter of a million inhabitants of Kharkov will again be under the German yoke, and will again be i subjected to the horrors which the . Germans, for the purpose of salving their mortified pride, inflict on un- : happy people falling into their power. Ilya Ehrenburg, writing in the “Red Star," says: “Kharkov is a success for Hitler, but not a victory. The battle continues. Dozens of Hitler’s best divisions are being destroyed. Dead men’s ghosts cannot again take the offensive against the Caucasus. What will happen when France ceases to be a home for battered Germans from Russia and instead becomes a battlefield?’’ ■■ ENEMY BLOW ANTICIPATED & FOILED BY RUSSIANS. (Received This. Day, 1'2.50 p.m.) LONDON, March 16. “The Times’’ Moscow correspondent describes the capture of Kholm Zhirkovsky as important. The Germans there had concentrated two divisions for a powerful counter-attack, but a swift and double-headed Russian blow imperilled their positions and forced the enemy to retreat southward, where they are being pursued to the River Vop. The Berlin radio has announced that the Germans in the Kuban area have shortened their front following upon Russian attacks and heavy fighting. SOVIET ATTACKS ON THE DONETZ FRONT. FURTHER GAINS IN CENTRE & NORTH. LONDON, March 16. Red Army tanks and infantry are counter-attacking on the central Donetz front, where the Germans are trying to follow up the capture of Kharkov with a drive across the river. In one engagement, the Russian forces smashed into a strong force of enemy tanks and infantry units and drove them back, inflicting further heavy losses on the Germans. On the central front the Russians continue their progress towards Smolensk and have taken 32 more villages. Russian troops have also gained ground in the district south of Lake Ilmen.