NEW ASSAULT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 July 1943, Page 3

NEW ASSAULT

LAUNCHED BY RUSSIANS ON SOUTHERN FRONT MOMENT WELL CHOSEN. FOR DRIVE INTO EASTERN UKRAINE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 19. A powerful two-pronged Russian offensive lias been raging since early on Saturday morning in the AliusDonetz region. It- aims at the reconquest of the industrial centres in the eastern Ukraine and the annihilation of the Germans east of the Diueper River, says the Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” Powerful armoured forces and masses of planes are supporting the drive which is meeting General von Manstein's armies.in southern Russia. The northern arm of the new offensive stretches along the west bank of the Donetz River, through Izyum to Chuguyev. The Russians farther south are striking across the Mius River, west of Rostov, against the German key strongholds of Taganrog and Stalino in the Donetz Basin. The offensive has been launched at the ideal moment. German crack storm troops divisions are already engaged in the Kursk-Orel sector and picked Luftwaffe squadrons are also engaged on other fronts. The correspondent says no moment could be more promising for the achievement of the objective of the Russian winter offensive which can be frustrated only by an exceptionally early spring. That objective is the reoccupation of the Dnieper line and the destruction of the German army in the Ukraine. ANSWER TO AXIS TALK. The battles of the Donetz and Mius Rivers are specially welcome news for another reason, that their inception coincides with a German propaganda attempt to present the Kursk-Orel battles as having so exhausted Russian manpower and material reserves that they are incapable of undertaking a major operation this year. The answer is being given the German Army on the plains of the Ukraine in the only language which the Germans understand. The Berlin radio says that the Russian attack on the southern front has now lost its diversionary character and become an offensive in the full sense of the word. Extremely violent fighting, it says, was in progress all day on the Kuban sector, to the southeastern part of the Sukhinichi area. In spite of heavy losses, the Russians continue to throw in new reserves of men and tanks, the radio added. The Berlin radio admitted that Russians on the Mius front, from the Sea of Azov northward, are attacking with tremendous numerical superiority. German infantry divisions in one sector were under the fire of 220 Russian guns, it said. The radio claimed that the Russians suffered heavy casualties in attacks against the Mius and Donetz fronts. However, it admitted that the Germans could not prevent “isolated penetrations.”

A supplement to yesterday’s Russian communique states: "North-west of Novorossisk, the Germans, in attempting to regain a height they lost on the previous day, launched several attacks, but all were repelled and the Russians are firmly holding their positions.”

ON DEFENSIVE GERMANS IN THE OREL SALIENT. FURTHER HEAVY ENEMY LOSSES. LONDON, July 19. The Russians are meeting stronger German resistance as they drive further* towards the inner defences of the Orel salient. The Red Army advanced four miles yesterday. Correspondents report that the Germans are now throwing in more and more reinforcements of men, tanks and aircraft in an effort to stop the Russian advance. Alread5 r the Germans are estimated to have lost nearly 30,000 men killed, 500 tanks knocked out and 700 aircraft destroyed. The Germans report today that their forces arc engaged in fighting a defensive battle in the Orel sector. The Russians arc closing the back door to Orel, says the Moscow correspondent of the British United Press. The encirclement of large enemy forces is now thought near. Meanwhile the Germans continue to move in troops from other sectors to stem the Russian advance, and they are also drawing planes from other places in an attempt to build up their strength. The Moscow correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency says that according to the latest Russian estimate based on ’ army reconnaissance, the Germans have between 235 and 240 divisions on the Russian front.

DAMAGING ATTACKS ON ENEMY TRANSPORT. MADE BY SOVIET BOMBERS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.17 a.m.) RUGBY July 19. The Moscow radio reports that from the Orel front, Soviet aircraft have been efficiently bombing enemy trains and columns of lorries. It states that four groups of Soviet “Pol 2” bombers, escorted by a large number of Soviet fighter planes, attacked a railway junction. Direct hits were observed on trains and explosions took place. Railway tracks, all switches and a railway station building were either wrecked or set on fire.

DEATH SENTENCES ON EIGHT RUSSIAN QUISLINGS, INCLUDING ONE WOMAN. LONDON, July 18. The Moscow radio announced that eight Russian quislings, including one woman, had been found guilty of aiding the Gestapo in the Kuban and had been condemned to death by hanging. Three others were sentenced to penal servitude for 20 years. These are believed to bee the first cases of the kind in Russia.