ATTENTION CENTRED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 March 1943, Page 4

ATTENTION CENTRED

ON SOVIET DRIVE TOWARDS SMOLENSK SPECTACULAR PROGRESS MADE. VAST BELT OF ENEMY FORTIFICATIONS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) LONDON. March 18. While the battle of the Donetz is swaying, attention is being concentrated on the Russian drive towards Smolensk. The force driving from Byeloi has made spectacular progres and has now reached points about 50 miles from the great German base and occupied 32 more populated places in the past 24 hours. Two other Russian columns are closing in from the north and east against the important junction of Durovo, on the main Viazma-Smolensk Railway. One, advancing down the branch line from Nikitinka, is now only 20 miles from Durovo. The other is moving along the main railway due west of Viazma. Before these columns lies a vast belt of fortifications protecting Smolensk and also a stretch of 50 to 80 miles of forest. MASSACRES BY NAZIS. A front line dispatch, via Moscow, states that the Germans, though retreating, are putting up a stiff resistance. They are destroying houses and executing peasants or driving them to the rear. The remains of a huge barn were discovered in one village in which were the charred bodies of 250 men and 500 women, many of whom were identified as inhabitants of neighbouring hamlets. Big fighting is also reported from the Russian salient running roughly south-west from Orel to Sevsk and thence through Lgov, Sudja, Sumy and Lebedin. This salient forms a huge bulge into German-held territory. News from Russian sources is awaited, but the German news agency, after admitting that a large-scale Russian attack southward of Orel had made local penetrations of the German lines, claimed that the attack failed. A German report mentions heavy fighting throughout yesterday on this salient, in which large Russian tank formations w’ere utilised. The report represents the Russian offensive as an attempt to relieve German pressure against their front in the south —obviously in the Kharkov area. HEROIC EFFORTS MADE BY SOVIET TROOPS. IN PURSUIT OF RETREATING GERMANS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) RUGBY, March 18. South-west of Viazma, Soviet forces have entered Vskhody, the eleventh district centre captured in the Smolensk region since the beginning of the offensive, states a Moscow message. Vskhody is nine miles west of the Viazma-Briansk Railway and 40 miles east,-north-east of Yelnia. South of Byeloi, Soviet troops advanced through dense woods in that area. They waded waist-deep through soft snow- Tree trunks are already surrounded by deep pools, caused by the thaw. Rafts, with crews of tommygupjjgtjS;, and machine-gunners, splash- • ed'-’if diWard over flooded bogs and swollen brooks,- and over washed-out trails, pursuing the retreating Germans. The thaw has not dampened the.offensive spirit of the Soviet troops, and despite ruined roads artillerymen manage to keep their guns moving-, even if they have to carry them. i , CRITICAL POINTS IN THE DONETZ BATTLE. SOVIET HOLD ON VITAL BRIDGEHEADS. (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, March 18. “The Times” Stockholm correspondent emphasises that the three most important points in the Donetz battle behind Kharkov are Byelgorod, Chuguyev and Isyum, where the. Russians hold strong bridgeheads on the Donetz right band. The heaviest fighting is now in the Chukuyev sector. The Russian positions at Byelgorod and Isyum are holding firm. The weight of German assaults on these three sectors is < becoming tremendous. Both sides are using more planes with a view to achieving local air superiority. It is doubtful, says the correspondent, whe-ther-the German plan includes pressing beyond the Donetz at present, even (if they manage to eliminate the Rusj sian bridgeheads. Marshal Timoshenko’s battle in the Lake Ilmen area is raging as violently as ever, the Tass News Agency reports. The Russians, developing their offensive south of Lake Ilmen, have reached the Staraya Russa-Ramashevo Highway. The agency adds that the Red Army continues to overwhelm stubborn resistance and is advancing and annihilating the enemy in forests. The Berlin radio declared that the Russians are threatening an encirclement of Staraya Russa, after sending strong tank-supported forces across Lake Ilmen. A Berlin spokesman said the Russians, after a furious artillery barrage, launched eight successive waves of armour and infantry toward Staraya Russa. The spokesman added the usual claim that the Russians failed to break the main battle line.