GREAT BATTLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 May 1943, Page 4

GREAT BATTLE

IN TOE KUBAN AREA REPORTED BY GERMANS. SOVIET THREAT IN REGION OF LENINGRAD. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, Noon.) LONDON, May 27. The long-expected battle for the Kuban bridgehead began yesterday in full intensity, said the Berlin radio tonight. It added that after several hours of artillery preparation, at least ten Soviet rifle divisions and five tank brigades opened an offensive against a narrow region in the eastern sector of the bridgehead. The Russians, it said, aim at clearing the road to Emrsuk and to the western foothills of the Taman Peninsula. A number of Soviet bombers and battle aircraft, with fighter escort, intervened, concentrating against the rear communications of the German bridgehead in the Kerch Straits. “The Russians,” the Berlin radio states, “threw in about 200 planes of all types, but the assault against the German supply fines failed. The Germans, in order as far as possible to- mitigate the Russian artillery fire, temporarily evacuated a strip of land several kilometres broad and about two kilometres deep. Thus Soviet attempts to break the German resistance with a thousand heavy-calibre shelljs remained ineffective. Russian rifle regiments, accompanied by about 170 tanks, streamed out of trenches and cover for the first attack, but met a violent counter-attack. The German machine-guns produced a terrible effect among the charging enemy. Despite the shattering defeat thus suffered... the Russian preparations have been so comprehensive that it may be reckoned they will continue to attack against the bridgehead, particularly as this offensive is only one part of a plan to win the Kerch Straits and the eastern part of the Crimea.” According to the German news agency, the Soviet apparently intends to throw now rifle and tank formations concentrated in the Leningrad area against the Finnish front. There is every sign, says the news agency, that an attack against the Aunus Isthmus can be expected. A superior Soviet force attacked a Finnish-held sector yesterday, but failed to gain ground. Reuter's Moscow correspondent says the Red Army is using every hour to strengthen the defensive positions along the whole front and far into the rear. | The “Red Star” expects the storm to '. break at any moment, by a German offensive launched with massed panzer attacks. The Germans are threatening that if they cannot take Leningrad they will lay it in ruins. Their bombers and long-range guns recently have been heavily pounding the city.