INEFFECTIVE EFFORTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 March 1943, Page 3

INEFFECTIVE EFFORTS

MADE BY THE GERMANS To Halt Russian Progress Towards Smolensk HEAVIEST FIGHTING IN DONETZ AREA NOW NORTH OF KHARKOV ENEMY STRIVING TO ESTABLISH BRIDGEHEAD LONDON, Mareh 23. New German attempts to halt Russian progress towards Smolensk have failed and the Russians are drawing steadily nearer to the city. On the south-western portion of the central front, the Red Army has smashed German attacks in a decisive way. In three days’ fighting the Germans have lost 5,500 in killed alone. On the Donetz front, it is impossible to tell whether the comparative lull means that the Germans have reached the limit of their! thrust or whether the enemy is preparing for a new onslaught. Fighting is mainly concentrated in the vicinity of Bielgorod and the upper reaches of the Donetz River. There is no suggestion that the enemy has been any more successful ]in making bridgeheads here than he was in the south, where fighting is at present mainly confined to artillery duels.

HEAVY FIGHTING

WITH TANKS & INFANTRY REPORTED IN BELGOROD SECTOR. ONLY ARTILLERY ACTIVITY AT CHUGUYEV, (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, March 23. Last night’s Russian communique did not mention the Chuguyev sector, soutn-west of Kharkov, where violent battles had been raging for 10 days, and today’s communique refers only to artillery activity there. But both communiques name the Belgorod sector as the scene of heavy fighting vyith tanks and infantry. This town, which fell into German hands lately, is close to the western bank of the Donetz, which the Germans apparently aim to cross before the final thaw sets in. It is clear that the Germans are attacking here as violently as they did farther south, but so far the Russians are doing equally well in the new phase of' the battle and nothing suggests that the Germans: have been able to breach their positions at any point.