Evening star., 1942-06-29
Germans Push Out
From Kursk in
New Offensive
Rv the Associated Press.

the long, resilient Russian line
for a weakness, the Germans to-
day were smashing out from
Kursk, about 280 miles south of
Moscow, in a new drive preSum-
ably aimed at cutting the vital
railway connecting the southern
and central fronts.
The new offensive-the fourth
started by the Germans this spring
and which set up the Germans
third major summer front in
Russia-came as the battered and
weary Soviet defenders of Sevas-
topol fought off a succession OF
brutal Axis blows at the Black Sea
fortress, now under attack for the
25th day. Other Red Army units
were counterattacking fiercely in
the Kharkov region and winning
back some lost ground, front dis.
patches said.
GA military commentator in
London said today that the main
German offensive, in Russia has
opened with the attack in the
Kursk area. The full weight of
the German attacks is being felt
in the Kharkov and Kursk areas
as German Gen. Fedor Won Book
strikes eastward toward crossings
of the Don River and Stalingrad,
he said.
On Berlin the German high
command said German and Ru-
manlan troops have forced a
crossing of the Tchernaia valley
and inflltrated to Sapun Hill at
SevastopolD
No Details Are Given.
Today's midday Soviet COM
munique gave no details of the fight
ing east of Kursk, saving merely
that during the night in the Kursk
and Sevastopol directions our troops
engaged the enemy in battle"
A supplement to the communioue
said the Germans had opened 25
held hospitals at Simferopol, north
east Of Sevastopol in the Crimea. to
handle the large number of wounded
from Sevastopol.
The new blow in the Kursk sector
came yesterday and the Russians
said only that the Germans had
gone over TO the offensive" there
The drive was pointed directly at
Voronezh, l20 miles to the east,
an important railway center 300
miles south of Moscow and about
400 miles north of Rostov. the gate
to the Caucasus now held by the
Russians.
The Russian winter offensive had
failed to dislodge the Germans from
Kursk and the Russian line in this
region runs roughly north and south
to the east Of Kharkov, Kursk and
Orel.
Threat to Communications.
A German break-through east of
kursk would not only threaten vital
Russian communications, but also
could be maneuvered to bring the
Russian forces in the Kharkov
sector into reach of an encirclement
movement from the north.
+ Dispatches from the Kharkov
front said last weeks German drive
through Kupyansk, so miles south
east of Kharkov, had been blunted
and that Russian troops had taken
the offensive, throwing tanks, planes
and even an armored train into the
battle. The Germans were retreat
ing in some areas, the reports said.
Although admitting that the Ger
mans succeeded in somewhat press
ing our units in one sector of the
bitter siege of Sevastopol, the Rus
slams announced that ION all other
sectors the enemy attacks were re-
pulsed with enormous losses to him ~
The Soviet Information Bureau
told of one unit at Sevastopol which
met and threw back 16 German
attacks in three days and the re-
ports indicated that the furious
fighting there was continuing.
OF the four major spring thrusts
initiated by the Germans only the
occupation of the Kerch Peninsula
has been successfully concluded.
Sevastopol still is fighting back and
a succession of German drives on
the Kharkov front has been dulled
and diverted, according to recent
reports. The progress of the push
from kursk still is uncertain.