Evening star., 1942-04-29
Advance Of IS Miles
In 4 Days Reported
By Russians
Big River Declared
Crossed in Face Of
Fierce Nozi Fight
D, the Associated Press

0S the ASSOClaDed PreSS-
KUIBYSHEV, Russia, April %
An important Russian advance
of IS miles in four days was re-
ported today in front line dis
patches which said the Red Army
successfully crossed a big river
in the face Of fierce defensive
action by the Nazi air force.
In this and other key sectors OF
the front the Germans were said
to have intensified their aerial op-
erations greatly in a desperate at
tempt to prevent bridge repairs with
the hope that rising spring flood
waters would hamper the Soviet
advance.
The 45-mile gain, in which Ger
man troops were reported hurled
back to the southwest. was the
most sweeping advance described in
Soviet dispatches for some time.
Location Not Disclosed.
The exact location was not dis
closed. Observers here said the
river crossed could be any one of
several streams which the Germans
have been defending stubbornly
as strong points from which they
could launch a spring offensive.
(Such description might apply
to German positions along the
Volkhov River in the Novgorod
region south of Leningrad, the
upper Volga in the Rzhev area,
the Okla River near Orel, or the
Donets In the Kharkov area.)
The river, described as bridged
at a point where its waters rise
very high in the spring, was said
to have been crossed in a swift
thrust which carried the Russians
forward Is miles in a day.
Three days later, the dispatches
reported. the Germans were hurled
back 80 miles more.
Col. Zhuravlev, Russian military
expert. wrote in the Moscow News
that the Red Army would prove
able to. continue its advances de-
spite the soggy countryside and vir-
tually impossible roads, and said
the battles OF the early spring would
have lasting effect in the rest Of
the campaign.
He declared that as a result OF
tremendous losses, the German air
force now lacked the overwhelming
superiority which contributed great
ly to Germany's first swift gains on
the Russian front.
In three weeks recently, he said,
the Germans lost 900 planes on the
Russian front That means the loss
of 1900 to $500 flyers, he pointed
out.
1000 Invaders Killed.
Leningrad front fighters have
killed more than 1000 invaders in
three days and the initiative re-
mains in Red Army hands in the
battle-torn southwestern sectors,
Soviet agencies said.
The Soviet Information Bureau
announced the German Finnish
death toll about Leningrad, which
averaged more than 500 troops a
day, and said there were no sig
nificant changes at the front over
night.
Soviet artillery fire destroyed 5
blockhouses. 13 redoubts, 4 NOR
tars and 10 military supply carts
on one sector Of the northwest
'front.'" the bureau said in COM
munique broadcast from Moscow.
The Army newspaper Red Star
said Soviet forces maintained direc-
ton Of the conflict in the south
west, where Adolf Hitler has been
expected to attempt new drive
toward Caucasian oil fields.
Heavy Losses Claimed.
Despite enormous efforts OF the
Fascist high command and the
bringing up of reserves" Red Star
said, "the enemy is failing to achieve
any success in any sector OF the
front and is forced here and there
to retreat westward, suffering heavy
losses and abandoning one settle
ment after another"
Berlin and Vichy radios told ol
heavy fighting in the Kursk and
Orel areas north of the Ukrainian-
Crimean backgrounds
The Berlin radio said a large
scale Russian attack, supported b,
tanks and armored trains, had bro
ken the German lines at a point
northeast of Orel, about 200 mile:
south of Moscow. but "the situation
later was restored"
A Bucharest report broadcast
from Vichy said the Russians were
outfanking Kursk from the nortf
and violent combat was in progress
for that German-held railroad city
80 miles below Orel.
The Finnish trade unions pub.
lished a May Day manifesto which