Evening star., 1943-07-21
Red.Nazi Battle
Is Raging Along
400-kiIe Front
Russians Continue
To Tighten Circle
Around OreI Base
sy the Associated Press.


Py the Associated Press.
MOSCOW, July 2l.-Fighting
along the Russian front spread
to the southern Donets and Mus
River sectors yesterday as Red
Army troops recaptured town
after town in their drive to en-
circle the Germans at OreI on
the central front, the Russians
reported today.
"a Reuters dispatch from Mos
COW said the Red Army had
reached Ermolaeva, which it. To-
Gated at less than seven miles
east of OrelD
Russian armies thus were on the
move on front extending some 400
miles south from Orel to a point
southwest Of Voroshilovgrad, where
the Soviet midnight communique
said Russian forces had crossed the
Mus River, improving their posi-
tions.
Heaviest fighting still ragged, how
ever, in the vicinity of Orel, where
the Soviet Army was closing in
around the German supply base.
Advances of from four to six miles
we're reported during the days
fighting which saw the Germans
make 10 counterattacks in a futile
effort to halt the Russian advance.
tToday's German communique
acknowledged that Nazi forces
were engaged in fierce battles of
defense" especially east and
north of Orel. 1t said that Rus
sian attacks south of Orel were
''bloodily repulsed" and that 1873
Soviet tanks were destroyed dur
ing the day. Soviet attempts to
break through Nazi lines of the
Mus River and in the middle
Donets were declared to have
been repulsed.
The Germans reported that
from July to 19 they captured
45,172 prisoners and destroyed
1927 tanks and 2,344 planes on
the eastern front)
Mtsensk Falls.
Among the towns captured by the
Russians, a special bulletin said, was
Mtsensk, 81 miles northeast of Orel.
The same Russian column that took
this town was reported pushing on
to the west.
Meanwhile, the bulletin said, the
Red Army force operating directly
east of Orel captured 20 villages in
the days fighting. including the
railway station town of Voroshilov.
On the southern flank a Soviet force
took the city of Malo Arkhangelsk
80 miles from Orel, the communique
said.
Russian advances were met by
stubborn resistance all along the
line. the war bulletin declared.
Nazi counterattacks were launched
constantly. Soviet troops routed one
only to have the Germans reform
their shattered tank units and in
fantry for another, the communique
said.
Russians reported the desperate
Nazi thrusts were accompanied by
the same heavy loss of life and ar
mored equipment which has marked
the battle on the central front since
its beginning l6 days ago.
The Russians also reported action
at the southern end of the Kursk
salient, in the vicinity of Belgorod.
Here the Red Army has been busily
engaged erasing the gains which the
German Army made in the opening
days of the battle.
Leningrad Area Static.
The Germans were hurting ar
mored forces at the Russians, and
the communique said that in one
engagement Soviet troops killed 400
Germans and disabled II tanks and
, self-propelling guns.
The Russians gave only meager
details on the fighting in the Donets
and Mus River areas. The mid
night communique minimized the
significance of the battles and re-
ferred to them as engagements of
lOCdl Clldl dCUCl, duQlllR, uOWCNCI,
that they have a tendency to grow
into serious battles"
The Germans previously had
reported heavy fighting south of
the Orel front. In radio broad
cast Monday Berlin reported that
the Russian Army had launched
offensives on four fronts. They
we're: Cd The north flank of
Volkhov-Leningrad front; (2) the
Demidof-Velizh area, 40 miles
southwest of Smolensk; 90 the
300-mile front from Suckhinichi
north to Belgorod; a. the Mus
River sector of the Kuban3
The Russian communique indi-
Gated that the Leningrad area was
comparatively static, with engage
ments limited to forays by recon-
naissance groups and shelling by
artillery and mortar batteries.