Evening star., 1942-01-23
Soviet Troops Closing
Trap on Germans
Beyond Mozhaisk
Also Louneh Compoien
To OutfIonk Enemy
Before Leninerod
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Red Army troops were report
ed today to have driven the Ger
man survivors of the battle of
Mozhaisk % miles along the
Smolensk highway toward Vyaz-
ma, on which a flanking force
was closing a lethal trap.
A dispatch from Moscow said the
Russian attackers had established
a rate of advance of from six to
seven miles day since Mozhaisk
was taken.
Borodino and Uvarovo were be-
hind the Russian assault units and
about 40 miles ahead lay Vyazma,
125 miles from Moscow. Russian
pincer spearheads have been aim
ing at this city for a long time.
Moscow dispatches indicated the
Red Army forces converging from
the northeast had been assigned the
ak work.
Launch New Drive. =
Coupled with their smashing
triumph on the Moscow front, Rus
sian troops advancing in a binding
snowstorm launched a drive to out
flank the Nazi armies before Lenin-
grad.
Dispatches said the Russians took
the Germans by surprise in an at
tack on the 40-mile sector between
Novgorod, just north of Lake linen,
and the Moscow-Leningrad railroad,
resulting In "the most violent Tight
ing of the New Year"
On the southern Ukraine) front,
a late bulletin reported that Marshal
Semeon Timoshenko's armies were
continuing to advance along a 100
mile line between Kursk and Khar-
kov, Russia's Pittsburgh"
To the north, Soviet troops were
said to have recaptured A towns
and villages in the Orel sector. 210
miles below Moscow, and it was re-
ported that Orel itself, encircled for
the past fortnight, may already have
fallen.
Three Settlements Reclaimed.
In addition to these developments,
q Soviet Information Bureau COM
munique reported the Germans lost
$50 men with the recapture of three
settlements in an unidentified sector.
The German high command in
Berlin reported further violent
fighting" on the Russian front.
I'm a counterattack on the CEN
trail sector heavy casualties were
once more inflicted on the enemy" "
the high command declared.
Thirty five guns and a number of
heavy weapons fell into our hands
Pravda, Moscow newspaper, said
the Germans in abandoning Mo-
zhaisk. 81 miles west of Moscow, left
extensive strategic plans in their
haste to get away. Many mines were
found under important buildings,
still unexploded.
Nazis Fighting Stubbornly.
Front dispatches said that while
there was alarm and confusion In
the ranks of the retreating forces
the Germans were still fighting
stubbornly in many sectors.
At Borodino, q dozen miles west
Of Mozhaisk, it was said, the Nazis
burned the famous Napoleonic mu-
scum, destroying relics Of the battle
which Napoleon fought there.
Soviet guerrilla detachments were
reported continuing effective opera
tions in the Leningrad region. One
unit was credited with ambushing
Nazi supply train and seizing Is
loaded carts. sN
Repeated Soviet claims to the edge
in recent aerial fighting were de-
veloped in two reports.
A Russian Information Bureau
communique said: Fifteen Ger
man planes were destroyed January
81. We lost four"
The Soviet War News, published
In London. declared that Germany
was straining every facility In an at
tempt to bring into production next
spring new fighters and bombers to
challenge the better Allied-made
aircraft. The writer was Col. p.
Stefanovsky Of the Red Army Air
Force.