LITTLE CHANGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 March 1943, Page 3

LITTLE CHANGE

ON THE CENTRAL FRONT IN RUSSIA SOME PROGRESS TOWARDS SMOLENSK. SOVIET TROOPS STANDING FIRM IN DONETZ AREA. LONDON, March 26. There has been little change in the position on the Central Russian front. The northern wing of the Red Army driving towards Smolensk appears to have gained more ground, despite stiff enemy resistance. The southern wing is now coming up against strong German defences. The Red Army is consolidating the gains already made and the southern advance has come to a standstill, at least for the time being. The German defence line has been prepared for a long time and the problem of supplies is also hampering the Red Army’s operations. German attacks on the southern front have again failed to make any headway. An enemy attempt to cross the Donetz east ,of Bielgorod was frustrated and the Russians have also beaten off an attack on their bridgehead near Chuguyev. EARLY ALLIED MOVE EXPECTED BY RUSSIANS. LONDON, March 25. The Russian Ambassador to Britain, M. Maisky, said in London today that his countrymen expected all their allies, particularly Britain and the United States, to make a move as soon as possible to bring about the final defeat of Germany. He said that there was still a long and hard road to travel before the final goal was achieved. That goal was, and must be, the complete destruction of Hitlerite Germany. Madame Maisky also spoke, urging closer friendship between Britain and Russia for the sake of the future. - ANOTHER ADVANCE MADE BY RUSSIANS IN SMOLENSK AREA. PREPARATIONS FOR GREATER OFFENSIVE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m.) LONDON, March 26. According to messages tonight from Stockholm, Russian tanks, after a fierce night battle,'penetrated Dorogobuj. A Stockholm correspondent says that despite the heaviness of the Russian pressure against the outer defences of Smolensk, the operations at present cannot be regarded as a major offensive, but as the preliminaries for a really great effort after the muddy season ends. The Russians are transporting by railway immense quantities of war material to Leningrad, including part of the British-American deliveries to Murmansk. The Germans, evidently, have realised that these are preparations for a spring and summer offensive and have been making an effort, during the past two months, to disturb the traffic \ with long-range artillery fire. They are now sending in numerous stukas and other divebombers, of which the Russians are taking heavy toll. NO SIGN OF WANING IN DONETZ & SMOLENSK BATTLES. BOTH SIDES THROWING IN GREAT STRENGTH. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.20 a.m.) LONDON, March 26. The intense battles on the Donetz and Smolensk fronts, where the antagonists fiercely driving against strong (defences, show no signs of waning. Both the Russians and the Germans still seem determined to throw in great strength against the sectors where penetration has been made, in order to exploit the possibilities of the offensives which achieved a considerable advance and possess important strategical objectives. After weeks of comparative lull, the Russians, according to Reuter’s Moscow correspondent, are again fighting grimly to hold their lines on the Upper Donetz. The Germans, racing against time, are making every effort to breach the Bjjelgordd-Chuguyev line before spring imposes a seasonal delay. Already the ground is softening and General von Manstein knows that the Donetz will shortly be in flood and even more difficult to cross. The Russians have been able to stave off the first furious onslaught, but the situation is still serious for them because a German advance will further imperil the Kursk salient. The Russian High Command, fully aware of the menace, has taken all possible precautions, but operations between the two north and south railways are hampered by the lack of east-west rail communications. General Koniev is still advancing from the Dnieper, gradually increasing the danger to Smolensk, but may progress more slowly because the closer he approaches to Smolensk the stronger become the German defences. These are studded with tank obstacles, pillboxes, field fortifications and artillery positions, largely built by Russian forced labour and extending to a great depth. The Russians are immediately aiming to effect a junction between the troops driving down from Kholmzhirovsky and those advancing from Byeloi, who are somewhere northward of Dulthovshohino. Such a junction would considerably strengthen the Russian position across the former German salient pointing towards Moscow, which has now become a Russian salient pointing towards Smolensk. The Germans are fighting most stubbornly to retain Smolensk, possession of which ensures freedom of action for their troops in the Briansk area, but the German position there has been weakened since the Russians secured the west bank of the Dnieper. The Germans persist on heavy counter-attacks, in which tanks, planes and artillery are supporting strong infantry forces. Reuter’s correspondent says the Russians, after widening the captured area on the west bank of the Upper Dnieper, have reached the major German defence line at the outer approaches to Smolensk. The Russians are doing their utmost to force the Germans from other stretches of the Dnieper to prevent them dynamiting the river ice, which would increase the Red Army’s transport difficulties. In the Kuban territory the Germans are struggling to save their bridgehead, which they hope to use for a summer offensive. They have frequently counter-attacked with mobile shock troops, consisting of forty tanks and a regiment of motorised infantry. Counter-attacks in one sector averaged six to eight daily. The Berlin radio claims that the Taman front has been rectified according to plan. A Finnish communique reports that twenty Russian planes last night attacked Helsinki.