The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-01-23
Soviet Storm Troops Drive on Rich DOnets Basin
 Only 10 Miles Away SEVERAL NEW TOWNS,
 VILLAGES TAKEN OVER z,OOO Germans Routed in COunter-Attack; Three
 Tanks Destroyed
BY HENRY SHAPIRO

United Press Staff COrrespOndent)
 Moscow, January g. - (UP) = Red Army artillery opened a bombardment of Voroshilovgrad today while storm troops drove on that rich Donets basin war ir1- dustry and mining city from lines only 10 miles away. On the southern front, the Rus sians advanced on TikhoretS, on the main Rostoy-C Caucasus rail- road, after taking Salsk, junction point and greatest German air base in the entire region, 75 miles to the northeast.
 In the Caucasus, the Russians were within 70 miles of Maikop oil fields center in the Black Sea area,- after capturing Mikoyan Shakhar, where the Germans had made their deepest penetration in the mour- tains, and freeing the towering peak of Mt. Elborus. i847l feet high, whose scaling the Germans had so proudly announced.
 (The Moscow radio broadcast that advanced Russian troops had eri- tered the region of KurSk, and Q drive on the city continued with tanks crushing all opposition. The l. Kursk administrative area extends to Q point about 60 miles east of Kursk City.)
 (The Moscow radio, heard in Lori- don, reported that advanced Russian troops had entered the region of Kursk, on the main Kharkov-Mcs i COW railroad through the Ukraine, where they had last been reported 85 miles from the city.)
 The noon communique reported fresh gains on all major three fronts.
 One Unit Takes Five Towns
 Several new towns and villages were claimed on the Voroshilovgrad front, including five taken by 6 single unit. A number of inhabited places were taken on the southern or Salsk front, the noon commu- nique said, and dozens" in the north Caucasus in addition to sev- eral of the Voronezh front where the Russians are advancing on Kursk.
 With the capture of Voroshilov- grad, one of the great objectives of their winter offensive, in sight the Russians reported that on the Vor- onezh (Kursk) front they captured several inhabited places during the night, including village in which they killed 200 Germans, took 150 prisoner and captured five field guns. Is machine guns and war and food dumps, and another where 200 Hun garians, surrounded, downed arms and surrendered. ca
 The Red army had reached within 10 miles of Voroshilovgrad. on the east, when 1t took the railroad juno tion town of Kondrashevskaya yes- terday. They were closing in also on the northeast and north, driving for a focal point of the German defen- sive-offensive system in southern Russia.
 The Russians also took Novoaidar 31 miles above Voroshilovgrad, and Evzus farther to the north.
 AS they closed in cs: VoroShilov- grad today, the Russians defeated the one counter-attack which the Germans essayed, routing 2,O00 men supported by tanks. The Germans lost eight tanks. In another sector 20O Germans were killed and three tanks destroyed.
 On the Salsk front, the Russians were advancing down the 6talin- grad -Tikhoretsk railroad on Belaya Glina, 40 miles southwest of Salsi and 10 miles northeast of Tikhoretsk.
 Yesterday the Russians had taken on this front, Konstantinovsk. 6B miles east of Rostov, near the con- f1uence of the Don and DonetS, ana Novy Yegorik, 20 miles east e maAS&
 During the night, the noon come munique reported, the Russians 1A
 (Continued on Page 9