Evening star., 1942-06-15
Heavy Toll Taken
Of Axis Forces by
Fleets Borroge
By The Associated Press.

MOSCOW, June l5.-Steamlng
into the fight for Sevastopol with
its guns laundering, the Soviet
Black Sea fleet was reported to-
day to have brought aid to the
hard-pressed land garrison by
laying down a deadly barrage
which took a heavy toll of the
Axis assault forces.
The battles in the tight-drawn
siege lines around the Crimean port
and on the shell-pocked front east
of Kharkov in the Ukraine con-
tinued with undiminished fury.
However, there were no further
reports of German gains on either
front since dispatches of yesterday
which said the Germans had pushed
forward in some sectors at Kharkov
and turned loose a full-scale on
slaught against Sevastopol in an
attempt to smash the Russian de-
fenses by sheer weight of men and
armor.
Warships Not Identified.
Dispatches from the Crimean
flank of The battlefront did not
identify the warships whose guns
were reported in action for the first
time since June 5 when the new
battle for Sevastopol began.
The principal units of the Black
Sea fleet are the cruisers Red Cri-
mea and Red Caucasus. which
played an important part earlier in
the Russian recap,ure of Kerch and
Feodosiya.
The warships previously had been
engaged in maintaining a line of
supply and communications for the
port and naval base which has been
cut off by land since last fall.
Naval infantry has been in action
ashore for some time.
The Germans were reported to
have bolstered their assault forces
with strong reserve strength includ-
ing units shifted from other fronts.
Their former timetable of attack
from 5 am. to p.m.-was said to
have given way to 24-hour a day
assault.
Nazis Have Little TO Show.
The Nazis, however, have little to
show for their heavy sacrifices in
either of the key battles of the
coming Russian campaigns.
In the last two days, the Soviet
Information Bureau said, the Ger
mans lost 1850 men and much ma
terial on the Kharkov front alone.
Both the mighty thrust against
Marshal Semeon Timoshenkos
armies of the Ukraine and the on
slaught to batter down the defenses
of besieged Sevastopol had failed
to develop the crushing momentum
of Hitler's big 1941 offensives.
The rest of the long Russian
front, meanwhile, showed signs of
shaking off the winter stalemate
and bitter fighting at many scat
tered points suggested that the
whole line may be springing into
new action.
Frightful Toll Taken.
The 15-mile deep defenses of
Sevastopol were said to be exacting
frlghtful toll of the attackers as
the Germans made assault after
assault with manpower at some
points five and six to one against
the defenders.
In scorching heat, the enemy
charged from all sides and was said
to have reached the crest of one
bombed and shelled hill before a
quick Red Army counterattack
backed them down. The hill was
said to have changed hands four
times.
(T'he Germans, claiming to
have wedged into the fortified
belt surrounding Sevastopol, may
have meant this hill in their re-
port of having captured the
modern strong fort of Stain"
which, they said, was taken in
hand-to-hand fighting on a
dominating height.'D
Within Sevastopol, all civilians
were reported armed with rifles and
hand grenades, waiting coolly for
any Nazi attempt to drop parachu-
lists inside the Notifications.
Temporary Nazi Success.
AS the troops battled under
orders that there be mot a step
back" the civilians were said also