NO RECENT PROGRESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 July 1943, Page 3

NO RECENT PROGRESS

MADE BY THE GERMANS IN BATTLE OF KURSK SALIENT ABORTIVE EFFORTS BY PANZERS NORTH OF BYELGOROD. ALL ASSAULTS HELD IN PAST 24 HOURS. LONDON, July 12. In Russia the Germans have failed to make any progress in the past 24. hours. 1 n the Orel area, not only have the Germans failed to make headway, but the Russians have gained ground in one sector. Russian dive-bombers bombed and dispersed German, infantry and pounded the enemy’s defence lines, tanks and transport. Russian infantry then pushed forward and threw the Germans out of two villages. Large panzer forces have made more attempts to widen the 20-mile wedge near Byelforod, at the southern end of the Kursk salient. The latest dispatches say that all these assaults have been held and that the enemy has made no progress in the last 24 hours. (

POSITION OBSCURE IN SOME LEADING DETAILS. BUT RUSSIANS RESISTING STRONGLY. LONDON, July 11. After two days of confused fighting on the Byelgorod sector in Russia the situation is still not clear but, from the Moscow reports, the Germans seem to be 20 miles up the railway toward Kursk. The Russians are strongly counter-at-tacking, and a communique reports that the enemy’s pressure yesterday was held. The Berlin radio claimed a German advance of 17 miles yesterday on the Orel-Kursk sector, but Moscow stated that by the end of the day the enemy were back where they started. “Hitler is losing on the average one tank every three or four minutes, and also approximately eight planes every hour,” says Moscow radio. “Never before have the German generals seen their equipment go so fast.” However, it is stated, the Germans are still able to keep 15 tank divisions in the field. Instead of attacking the Russian communication lines, railway junctions, and aerodromes, as in the previous offensives, the Luftwaffe is now almost exclusively concerned with the battlefield, the Moscow “Pravda” says. "The Germans are attaching all types of bombers and fighters to the grotind units, but the enemy’s plans are being frustrated, and he is losing his initiative,” it states. “Hundreds of planes are fighting a general air battle on the Orel-Kursk-Byelgorod front. At noon yesterday 500 Russian and German planes were observed simultaneously over one sector.” HEAVY AXIS LOSSES. A Russian communique stated that during yesterday "Soviet troops in the Orel, Kursk, and Byelgorod directions continued to repel the attacks of enemy tanks and infantry. Our troops destroyed or damaged 162 tanks. In Aerial engagements and by anti-aircraft fire, 31 German planes were shot down.” According to the Soviet communique so far the Germans have lost in rhe seven days of fighting on these sectors at least 2500 tanks and 1068 planes. A supplementary Russian communique last night said that on the Orel-Kursk sector the enemy, having failed to achieve success, attempted yesterday again to break through the defence. They threw into battle simultaneously 400 tanks and large forces of infantry, but all the attacks were frustrated, and in the evening the enemy was repelled to his initial positions, leaving many disabled and destroyed. tanks. During the day’s fighting on this sector alone the enemy lost more than 2000 officers and men. On another sector of the same front a large force of Soviet aircraft dealt a blow against an enemy tank division, disabling several dozerr tanks and dispersing and partly annihilating two German infantry regiments, and also dislodging the enemy from two localities.

On the Byclgorod sector the Russian troops fought a stubborn engagement and held their positions against attacks from several directions, knocking out 34 tanks and five armoured cars, as well as smashing 14 guns. The Moscow radio officially announced last night that Soviet aircraft without loss bombed the railway junction of Byelgorod, where there was a large concentration of enemy trains. Many fires broke out, and the pilots observed many explosions, including a huge one. CRUSHING COUNTERSTROKE. A message from Moscow says that due north of Byelgorod 500 tanks headed by Tigers attacked on a narrow front, and after an exhausting threehoui’ battle captured a populated point. While the enemy regrouped his depleted forces behind a screen of aerial bombs, masses of Soviet tanks struck a crushing counter-blow and recaptured the settlement. The German tanks withdrew under air cover, but Soviet fighters were brought up and overwhelmed German aircraft, and bombers attacked a German armoured camp, disorganising masses of tanks, caterpillar guns, and motorised infantry. This happened at the apex of one of the wedges and was one of the most severe tactical setbacks for the Germans since the beginning of the offensive. The wedges in the neighbourhood of Byelgorod are in danger of being cut off by mass attacks by Soviet tanks, artillery, and aircraft, which are growing in weight and intensity. Dispatches from the front state that the wedges are of considerable width and depth, but that all the German attempts to increase them have failed. In a cramped space, the Germans are fighting at a serious disadvantage, while the Russians enjoy freedom of manoeuvre.