Evening star., 1943-07-09
Fury Of Kursk Tank Battle Rising;
Americans 3 Miles From Munda;
New Air Blows Dealt to Japanese
Reinforcements
Rushed by Both
Nuzis and Reds
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press
MOSCOW, July German
armored columns led by Cotton
Tiger tanks battered again to-
day at the Belgorod end of the
Kursk salient, where they sue
ceeded yesterday in driving a
wedge into Russian defenses at
a terrific cost.
Reports from the front tonight
said the battle on the debris -strewn
steppes of Kursk was growing in
violence. Otherwise little was known
of the fighting
Both in the Belgorod area and
against the unyielding northern sec
tor of the Soviet line the Germans
were said to be throwing fresh
troops and new tanks into the battle
The Russians also were bringing
up large numbers of 50-ton XIV"
tanks to combat the mammoth Ger
man Tigers In deadly struggle
which already has reached history
making proportions for the high
German losses and spectacularly low
gains.
But as the German forces in the
Orel-Kursk sector tried vainly to
initiate the example of their COM
rades at the Belgorod end the Rus
sian Army newspaper Red Star
warned against Understanding the
strength of the German armies.
Fighting Desperately.
The Germans continue to fight
desperately, because Hitler has TO
try to offer the people "if not a
real victory at least an ersatz vic
tory" Red Star said Germany
can't wait. 1t is frightened by the
offensive spirit of the Red Army and
the war preparations of the United
States and England"
Red Star declared the powerful
Nazi tank columns in the Orel-
Kursk region had changed the di-
rection of their attack several times
in a desperate effort to find a weak
point in the deep Russian positions.
In that northern section of the
200-mile battle line, the Russians
said their troops regained lost
ground In succession of counterat-
tacks yesterday while holding firm
against mighty stab by about 10000
Nazi troops against one narrow area
The Nazis returned to the attack
at 8 am. yesterday on the Orel-
Kursk sector. On the narrow front
where the $4,000 Germans were en-
gagged, the battle had reached its
peak by pm. The Pravda cor
respondent said one unit. however,
withstood 13 subsequent attacks.
$50 Tanks Stopped.
The correspondent said that, pro-
tected by swarms of aircraft, the
Germans threw $50 tanks against
the Russians. But not a single one
got through. he said.
Dispatches from the front declared
the German air force had failed
in all its attempts to win supremacy
over the battlefield. One group of
Russian pilots was said to have shot
down ITO German planes during
"a ooSiSliSo UkiiooEiioOt tllC odN.
AS the masses of plane-supported
Nazi armor and infantry commanded
by Field Marshal Guenther Won
Kluge carried the offensive into its
fifth day, the Russians, although
admitting new enemy tank pene-
tration near Belgorod, said stiff
fighting continues" in that southern
sector.
Nazi Losses Increased.
A Moscow communique reported
an additional 304 German tanks
were destroyed or damaged in yes
terday's fighting and 161 planes were
shot down, raising the four day en-
emy losses to 1,843 tanks and 810
planes. NaZi casualties were re-
ported as at least $4,000.
(The Friday German high COM
mand communique, broadcast by
the Berlin radio and recorded by
the Associated Press, declared
that "the big struggle in the Bel
gorod- -Orrel area goes on with
undiminished ferocity."
ct claimed that since the day
before yesterday a gigantic tank
battle has been raging in the
rear of pierced Soviet positions
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