SOVIET OFFENSIVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 May 1943, Page 4

SOVIET OFFENSIVE

EXPECTED AT ANY TIME

RAILWAYS IN OREL SECTOR.

BATTERED CONSANTLY BY RED AIR FORCE.

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.5 p.m.) LONDON, May IlReuter’s Moscow correspondent reports that a Russian offensive in the Orel sector can be expected any day. Red Air Force bombers appear to be softening up the sector for land attacks. The Russians are also constantly battering the four main railways leading to Orel. The Germans must be relying on partly crippled rail communications or are already completely cut off. The “Daily Express” correspondent in Persia says Russia is about to launch her greatest offensive. It may not be launched where the Germans expect it, but it will certainly come, and quickly, he says. A Red Army officer in Teheran told the correspondent: "Yours is a splendid victory in Africa, but the spotlight will soon swing back to the Red Army.” The latest Moscow reports state that the Russians expect the Germans to make the first summer move, but London observers believe that these reports are part of the Russian nerve war to keep the Germans guessing about the Red Army plans. STRONG DEFENCES COVERING NOVOROSSISK. PENETRATED BY RED ARMY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.51 a.m.) RUGBY. May 11. In the Kuban area the Red Army has penetrated the new enemy defence line reached a few days ago, states a Moscow message. The line consists of ferro-concrete blockhouses and trenches, with concrete parapets, which are reducible only by concentrated bombing and shelling. This accounts for the slowness of the advance. The Germans built the fortifications behind a deep zone of field works and minefields, Which are mostly in Russian hands. Yesterday the Germans counter-attack-ed with renewed violence, supported by a strong air umbrella. On one sector the Russians successfully withstood nine bombings and captured an important height. An earlier message said the Germans were reported to be drawing on reserves earmarked for the summer offensive in an attempt to hold Novorossisk.

“The Times” Moscow correspondent says Novorossisk was previously the Soviet’s greatest cement-producing centre and the Germans clearly spent the winter in establishing a very tough fortifications system. The Russian guns are ceaselessly hammering the defence line, which they have reached and penetrated in some places.