Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-01-07
Battered
Along Line 10
Murmansk
Big Armored Forces
Thrown Into Assault;
Nozis Still Retreat
BULLETIN.

MOSCOW, Thursday F.-
Russian troops attacking on
the central front were de-
clared officially today to have
retaken a number of villages.
including Meshchovsk. 40
miles southwest Of Kaluga.
Meshchovsk represents a
further gain in the Reds
drive toward the wanna
Bryansk German defense line
only 40 miles beyond.
Earlier Story on Page AID
BY the Associated Press.
The German armies were in
retreat today along the entire
1,200-mile Soviet battlefront and
the Russian situation had so i'm
proved in the far north that
major assaults with strong
armored forces were reported
being delivered on the Firms
while the Red Leningrad garri-
son was at the same time being
reinforced.
The offensive appeared aimed
at securing safe transit for Brit
ish and American aid through
MurmanSk.
Dispatches from Stockholm told OF
a great battle along the southern
sector of the Russo Finnish front
For the first time in months. the
Helsinki correspondent OF the Stock
holm newspaper Aftonbladet said.
the Russians have strong armored
forces at their disposal. They are
throwing battalion after battalion
into the heaviest fighting seen in
Eastern Karelia since September.
| This indicated German pressure on
Leningrad had been greatly eased.
A Finnish war bulletin also re-
ported that Russian troops had
penetrated Finnish lines on the east
front north of Lake Onega-a diff
ferent sector farther north-and
that the Red Army offensive was
continuing there.
! In the Crimea. sea borne Russian
| troops struck back at many points
to tighten a trap around the Ger
man siege armies at Sevastopol.
The Russians also were reported
driving in the direction of Kharkov,
important heavy industry center in
. the Donets Basin.
Success in this area would reclaim
, another vital manufacturing point
for the U. S. S. R. and constitute a
big step in the Red Army's task of
winning back the Ukraine.
10000 Nazis Die on Central Front.
On the central front. retreating
Nazis were said to have left 10000
dead on the battlefields and yielded
So towns i'll five days.
Red cavalry raids were reported in
the Mozhaisk sector. 81 miles west
OF Moscow. where the Russians have
said the Germans face enlightenment.
Roads in the NaZi rear were reported
cut by sudden night attacks of the
horSemen.
The pace of the Russian counter
sweep was reported quickening as
| reinforcements poured steadily into
the Red Armv lines, and Soviet in
formantS said Russians expected to
drive the invaders behind the Len
! ingrad- Smolensk-Dnieper River line
more than 200 miles west of Mos
/ cow-around February /. This would
turn the Nazi retreat into a mill
| tary catastrophe in the bitterest part
| Of the winter"
Firms Deny Peace Rumor.
Official Finnish spokesman denied
widespread rumors that Finland is
ready to withdraw from the war
/ against Russia.
Questioned about an editorial in
a Helsinki newspaper Sunday sug-
costing that Finland's strategic goal
had been reached, these spokesman
said it was not possible at present
to make any official announcement
on the correctness of this intima-
ton for military reasons.
Authorities admitted however,
that the Finnish Army has not en-
gagged recently in offensive opera
tons.