GOING WELL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 May 1943, Page 4

GOING WELL

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE IN KUBAN ATTACKLRv CL"S'NG IN ON NOVOROSSISK. MINOR “DUNKIRK” IN PROSPECT FOR GERMANS. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright I (Received This Day, 12.20 p.m.) LONDON. May G. Russian forces, driving onwards from their newly-won positions in the Kuban, are now storming enemy fortifications and closing in on Novorossisk.

Reuter's Stockholm correspondent says the Russian pressure against Novorossisk has considerably increased in the last 24 hours. The latest German reports, insisting on the enormous Russian superiority in men and material, suggest that the Germans have little hope of retaining Novorossisk much longer. If the Germans are forced to evacuate Novorossisk, their last important base on the Kuban mainland, they are likely to suffer a “Dunkirk” on a smaller scale. It will be a hazardous undertaking for the Germans to evacuate by sea, under the guns of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and the Russian Air Force seems to control the skies hereabouts. Heavy artillery is aiding the Russians, who are advancing towards Novorossisk in three columns, one of which is roughly half-way between Krymskaya and . Novorossisk. The second is advancing along the Kuban valley towards the sea, and the third is working its way to the southern suburbs.

The British United Press Moscow con’espondent says the Russian forces which captured Krymskaya and broke through on a 17-mile front occupied a chain of villages, including Neberdzhaedskaya, which is 12 miles northeast of Novorossisk and controls a pass through the mountains dominating the city. The break through extended from Neberdzhaeskaya to Adagum, 8 miles south of the Kuban River. The Russians have been fighting on the southern outskirts of Novorossisk all the winter. The advance from the northeast now threatens an encirclement of the city. The Germans, although putting up a stubborn resistance, are slowly falling back to Novorossisk and also westwards, into the neck of the Taman Peninsula.

TOWN SET ABLAZE

BY RETREATING GERMANS,

ENEMY ANTI-TANK WEAPONS

(Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, May G. Reuter's Moscow correspondent says Krymskaya blazed with a light as bright as day when Russian tommy-gunners smashed their way in. The Germans set fire to the main buildings in Krymskaya. The battlefield is strewn with the wreckage of smashed German planes which attempted to hold up the Russian onslaught. Wave after wave of Russian planes supported the army in the battle for the town. Big Russian guns also participated in the assault. The “Pravda” warns the people that summer days are approaching and that therefore activity is increasing along the whole front.

Official Russian references to other sectors than the Kuban reveal activity on a swelling scale, but only local actions, as distinct from full-scale offensives.

A Moscow message says the Germans are using fume grenades against Russian tanks. They consist of a glasspartitioned globe, containing white and yellow liquids which mingle on impact and form a dark brown acid, from which smoke emerges, penetrates the tanks and blinds the crews. Russian tank crews have been ordered to wear gas masks. Another German anti-tank weapon is a magnetic mine for use against stationary tanks. Applied by hand to the tank, it allows the placer to withdraw to a safe distance before it explodes.

AXIS MAIN BASES

POUNDED BY SOVIET BOMBERS. MANY EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 1.15 p.m.) RUGBY, May 6. The Moscow radio says: A strong formation of long-range Soviet planes successfully bombed railway junctions at Dnepropetrovsk, Kremenchug and Bryansk, on Wednesday night. The junctions were jammed with ammunition trains and many explosions and fires were observed. A Soviet communique says: “The Germans today launched numerous counter-attacks on the Kuban front, north-east of Novorossisk. attempting to regain lost localities. We repelled all attacks, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.

“Our naval units in the Barents Sea have sunk an enemy transport and a trawler.”