LOCAL ACTIONS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1943, Page 3

LOCAL ACTIONS

ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT ABORTIVE GERMAN ATTACKS. IN KURSK AND DONETZ AREAS. LONDON, June 7. Ground fighting on the Russian front is still confined Io local attacks and counterattacks. The Germans yesterday attacked again the western tip of the Kursk salient, but they were once more driven back. Further south two German attempts to force a crossing of the Donetz failed as the result of heavy fire fr,om Russian guns on the opposite bank of the river. . NEARLY 5,000 PLANES LOST BY THE GERMANS JN RUSSIA. DURING LAST THREE MONTHS.

(Received This Day, 9.45 a.m.) LONDON, June 7. Great' numbers of Russianmanned Spitfires, Hurricanes, Tomahawks and Douglas planes are being used in the air war in the Kuban area, according to reports from Berlin, says Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent. The reports state that the efficiency of the Russian airmen is increasing and admit that the Germans have suffered losses. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the latest figures show that the Germans have lost nearly 5,000 planes in Russia during the last three months.

GERMAN CLAIM SOVIET ASSAULT GROUPS WIPED OUT. AFTER INITIAL SUCCESS IN OREL SECTOR. (Received This Day, 9.45 a.m.) LONDON, June 7. The Italian news agency says it is announced from Berlin that Russian troops broke through the first line ot German defences in new attacks in the Orel sector. It is claimed that the Russian groups were encircled and wiped out in a bayonet charge.