Evening star., 1942-01-14
Russia
Continued From First Page)

south of Leningrad, was reported
restored to Russian control through
the withdrawal of the German gar
rison under pincer pressure.
On the southern front. Soviet SOL
diers pressed within II miles of
Kharkov, in the Donets industrial
basin.
An Izvest1a correspondent said
more than 10000 German troops had
been killed in recent fighting in
the Donets Basin.
Russian cavalrymen newly landed
in the Crimea were reported to be
raiding German positions at Kar-
asubazar 25 miles northeast OF Sim
feropol, and driving northeastward
toward the Perekop Isthmus from
the Feodosiya area while parachute
troops struck at behind.the- lines
objectives.
Nazis' Smolensk Bastion Periled.
A British military commentator
in London said Russian spearheads
were now only about 40 miles east
of the trunk railway angling be-
tween Nazi bastions at Smolensk
and Bryansk-"dangerously close"
he said, from the German viewpoint.
These spearheads were based at
Kirov and Lyudinovo, . sister town
to the south.
Bulletins from the Soviet central
front reaching London by radio re-
ported desperate German counter
attacks were breaking with heavy
losses against the Red Army assault
lines.
Perhaps speaking of the same en-
gagement, the Soviet Information
Bureau in Moscow reported 200 Ger
mans were killed "in violent fighting
for possession of x"
The Finnish Army command in
Helsinki asserted that the fighting
north of Lake Omega had reached
the "mopping up" stage, its COM
munique implying that the long
sustained Russian offensive on that
front had been shattered.
Initiative Up to Reds.
Declaring the initiative rests with
Soviet troops and that their on
slaught is gaining momentum" Col.
A. Vasilyev of the Red Army said
In London that the Germans had
lost enough material in their final
offensive in November against Mos
COW to equip IL tank divisions, 5
or 6 motorized divisions and IS to
60 infantry regiments.
Writing in a Russian Embassy
war news publication, he said:
About 80 per cent of the electives
used in the decisive German offen-
sive of November 16 were killed or
wounded"
BY January /. wrote Vasilyev, the
Germans last offensive and the Red
Army's counterof1ensive had cost
the Nazis 142 ,4So killed and 2S0, 400
wounded.
The figure for Nazi dead had risen
to 100000 by January 6, S. A. Lozov-
sky, Soviet vice commissar OF
foreign affairs, said in Moscow.
Vasilyev said the Nazis considered
their defenses which the Russians
smashed along the steep banks Of
the Nara, Protva and Okla Rivers
impregnable. This river system runs
from south of Mozhaisk through
Kaluga to the south.
German Atrocities Told.
Soviet Embassy sources in London
declared last night that refugees
who escaped from German-held
Kharkov gave this picture Of the
once -hourishing city, often called
the Russian Pittsburgh:
Violence and plunder increase
daily as the German command be-
gins to lose ground. Gallows have
been erected in the central streets.
Corpses hang from balconies.
THE other day the building which
is the headquarters Of the German
command was blown up. In retalia-
ton the Germans hanged 200 Khar-
kov citizens.
Schools, hospitals and stores are
closed, as they are in all adjacent
villages. The city is in darkness
every night, since only one power
station has been recommissioned to
serve the needs of the German mill
tary units and even this station
works to only one quarter Of its
capacity -.
There is no bread and, to combat
famine, the German command
evicted scores of thousands OF resi-
dents. Concentration camps were
erected for Jews on the outskirts
Of the cit. in ruined buildings devoid
of light and water -.
Half dressed Jews were driven
along the streets, lashed with whips
and prodded by rife butts. Ex-
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