Evening star., 1943-07-12
Russians Smash
New Ndzi Drive
Near Belgo!rod
Germans Continue
Spirited Assaults
Against Red Line
BY the Associated Press,


MOSCOW, July 12.-The bat
tie of the Belgorod breach con-
tinued with undiminished fury
today, with the Russians insist
ing that they have effectively
prevented German tanks from
enlarging the wedge they drove
into the Red Army lines five
days ago.
Field Marshal Guenther Won
Kluge,s armored columns also were
smashing with fresh emphasis on
the Orel-Kursk end of the Kursk
salient, but here, too, the Russians
claim, they were absorbing the best
that the Nazis could give.
The Kursk sector blazed into more
furious action as the second week
of the German offensive began, but
1t was not yet clear whether Mar
shall Won Kluge has shifted the main
weight of his attack from Belgorod
in a possible search for an easier
spot to breach the unyielding Rus
sian lines.
NaZiS Claim Gains.
"a German communiQue,
broadcast by Berlin radio and
recorded by the Associated Press,
said an important Russian force
had been encircled and wiped out
between Orel and Belgorod. Sew
eral thousand prisoners were
taken, the communique said, and
129 Red tanks were destroyed.
Numerous guns and other war
material were captured.
(The communique claimed
total of 220 Russian tanks and
TO airplanes were destroyed on
this sector and added that Red
Army losses since July totalled
$4,000 prisoners, 1,640 tanks and
1,400 guns destroyedo
In any event the Russians de-
clared that the Germans were
fighting in general on much the
same ground as when they began
their offensive, which has cost them
$500 tanks and 1,068 planes in a
single week.
There are few details available on
the present situation in the Belgorod
breach at the southern end OF the
200-mile central front, but the Rus
slams have reported that they re-
PEELED a Nazi attack by more than
100 tanks, including the new Cotton
Tigers. Red Army artillery and
aviation protecting the Red infantry
destroyed "a tanks and dispersed the
remainder, the Russians said.
Altogether the Russians say they
have repelled 10 German attempts
to advance on the Belgorod sector.
While still working hard to break
through in the Belgorod area, the
Germans attacked strongly in the
Orel-Kursk sector at the northern
end of the Kursk salient.
Up to 400 tanks and large force
of infantry attacked on one narrow
sector. The Russians reported many
tanks destroyed and more than 1000
men killed. At another position on
this front, Soviet aviation broke up
a German attack before it could get
under way and the Soviet infantry
followed up in counterattack
which dislodged the enemy from two
settlements.
Reds Ambush Tanks.
Soviet tanks, following their Ia
vorite tactics of digging themselves
into the ground and fighting from
ambush, accounted for large num-
Der of the 162 tanks which the Ger
mans were said to have lost yester-
day. The Nazi air force lost only 81
planes yesterday, the smallest num-
ber since the offensive began.
Russian bombers struck at Bel
eorod last night in a continuation
of the attacks on the German rear
line positions.
On land the Soviet forces were
graphing with such famous tank
divisions as the Death Head and
the Adolf Hitler" These are the
reorganlzed versions OF original OIL
visions and have been defeated in
previous battles.
Armored columns which continue
to be the backbone of the German
offensive are constantly being re-
inforced and the Red artillery which
remains the backbone of the Rus
sian defense continues to knock
them of as fast as they come.