ARMIES BOGGED DOWN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1943, Page 3

ARMIES BOGGED DOWN

ON MUCH OF EASTERN FRONT SOME SOVIET PROGRESS IN KUBAN AREA. DONETZ LINE HELD FIRMLY. LONDON, April 1. The thaw is still holding' up operations in Russia. The Red Army has made some progress in the Kuban country and the German position on the north bank of the Kuban River has become more difficult. The Russians are now reported to be driving along the river towards a port near the river mouth. Sharp local engagements are still taking place along the northern Donetz front and the Red Army is holding on grimly to its bridgeheads on the western bank of the river. The Russians have foiled all German attempts to dislodge them. On the Smolensk front the armies are bogged down by the thaw, but the Russians are still making small local advances. AIR FIGHTING INTENSIFIED ON SOUTHERN FRONT. PREPARATIONS FOR SUMMER CAMPAIGN. . LONDON, March3l. The Russian and German armies are now both fencing hard for positions ,on the Donetz front in preparation for the time when the ground will again be suitable for large-scale operations. It is most important for the Red Army to hold on to the present line from the Byelgrod region to the west of Rostov for the coming summer battles. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that improved weather on the southern front has resulted in the flaring up of the air war. The hundred German planes were involved in a big battle when they tried to approach an important town at a river crossing. Russian fighters, outnumbered 10 to one, tore into the attackers. They shot down 15, damaged eight and dispersed the formation before it reached the target. The Red Army women pilot, Sublieutenant Litkay, shot down her third German plane in this battle. Rusian pilots also shot down 18 and damaged seven German planes attacking a Russian Black Sea Fleet base. IMPORTANT CAPTURE TOWN WEST OF KERCH STRAIT LONDON, April 1. The Red Army has further narrowed the German bridgehead in the Kuban by the capture of a town about 50 miles from the Kerch Strait and 20 miles from the coast of the Sea of Azov. A Russian communique describes the town as “a most important centre of German resistance.”