Evening star., 1942-06-17
Reds DisIodqe
Germans From
Kharkov Lines
SevostopoI Bottle
Raging Around
VitoI Highway
By the Associated Press.

MOSCOW, June H. SOVIET
counterattacks on the Kharkov
front were reported today to
have forced the Germans to
abandon several lines in one sec
tor where they tried to dig in to
new positions.
While the Nazis were rolled back
there, Russian dispatches told of
other Red Army counterattacks in
several other Kharkov sectors.
In the battle for Sevastopol the
fierce fighting swirled around an
important highway against which
the Germans launched masses OF
troops. tanks and planes in six vain
assaults.
Five Attacks Repulsed.
Soviet dispatches said the Ger
mans also attacked the southern
defenses of Sevastopol five times
only to be repulsed in every case.
The Red Army, the dispatches
said, was still holding Balaklava,
the fishing town 7lz miles south
of Sevastopol made famous by
Tennyson's poem. The Charge Of
the Light Brigade" which occurred
during the Crimean War
The battles for Kharkov and
Sevastopol now appeared to be sta
bilized. The assaults by the Ger
mans on the Kharkov front were
reported to be on smaller scale
today.
The newspaper Red Star said one
Nazi attack cost the enemy 13
tanks, five field guns and a number
of men killed and wounded. At
another point, the paper said. a
Russian battalion squeezed a Ger
man advance unit on two sides and
forced withdrawal.
More than 400 Germans were
killed, two tanks were captured and
an enemy defense position was oc-
cupied in q Bryansk eector, the
Soviet Information Bureau said, re-
porting gain in that region south
west of Moscow for the second sue
cessive day.
A German column was declared
wiped out at a Nazi-held village
on the Kharkov front.
Riflemen Dispersed.
The information bureau said yell
ing automatic riffemen struck to-
ward Soviet lines in mass forma-
tion-a maneuver described as a
psychological attack-and were dis
persed by Red Army artillery, leav-
ing behind a large number of cas-
ualties.
The Germans lost 20 tanks and
about 600 dead during futile thrusts
in another sector, its communique
declared.
persistent Russian efforts to
regain a. foothold on the Kerch
peninsula of the Crimea were
disclosed in Berlin The Ger
man nigh command announced
that Soviet forces had made four
attempts to land since they were
driven from the peninsula four
weeks ago. the latest with six
boats Monday night. Coastal
artillery fire sank one of the
boats and turned back the
others to the Caucasus, the high
command saidO
The Soviet Information Bureau
said a sudden Red Army attack on
a German village in the Kharkov
region, where the divisions of Field
Marshal Gen. Fedor Won Book
launched ar offensive June 10. had
taken the enemy completely by
surprise"
In short but fierce engage
ment complete enemy column was
destroyed. including 30 motor We
hicles, IL guns and four tanks" it
said. The enemy lost more than
200 soldiers and officers killed"
Throughout the same area,
Marshal Semeon Timoshenko's men
were reported to have repelled sew
eral Nazi attacks.
Big Losses for Germans.
The Russians said the battle
stained defenders of Sevastopol
fighting from system of entrench-
ments and Notifications Is miles
deep, cut heavily yesterday into
German assault forces estimated to
total i25 600 men-seven infantry
(See RUSSIA, Page A-3)