Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-01-25
Soviets Continue
Advance AIonq
Wide Front
By the Associated Press.

its continuing story q defeat in
Russia with the announcement
that lin order to shorten the
front the bridgehead of Voronezh
has been evacuated according to
plan and without pressure by
the enemy"
Its communique, broadcast from
Berlin and recorded by the Asso-
ciated Press, continued its account
Of the remnants of % Axis divisions
enclrcled on the approaches to
Stalingrad in this passage:
In the heroic and self-sacrihcial
fight against overwhelming superb
ority, the 9th Army in Stalingrad
attached immortal glory to its COL
ors. Units of the Rumanian goth
Infantry Division and lst Cavalry
Division are fighting shoulder to
shoulder with their German COM
rades to the utmost and are shar-
ing fully in this glory"
A Moscow broadcast was quoted
by Reuters in London as saving
nearly 5000 more Germans had
been captured in the Kamenka-
Rossosh sector below Voronezh in
the last "a hours, making a total of
some 10000 prisoners taken in II
days.
Voronezh, important railway
junction 365 miles southeast of
MOSCOW, has been the hinge be-
tween the central and southern
sections of the Russian front.
Loss Never Admitted.
The Germans announced last
July that the Don has been
crossed and Voronezh captured. :"
The Russians never admitted the
loss of Voronezh, which lies several
miles east Of the Don on the Voro-
nezh River, but in successive COM
munlques in mid-July reported
heavy fighting west of Voronezh, "
ON the approaches to Voronezh"
and finally in the Voronezh area. +"
The significance of the German
announcement was not Immediately
clear, but apparently it means that
at least any territory the Germans
still held east of the Don in the
Voronezh area has been abandoned.
1t may also be the first step there
OF a large-Scale withdrawal COM
parable TO that from the Caucasus.
The Red Army of the North eau
casuS has smashed through German
resistance to the rolling plains of
RoStov Province, capturing the rail-
road city of PeSchanokopskoye and
threatening the key German strong
hold at Rostov, 95 miles to the north
west, from It's softeSt flank, the Rus
slams said.
This important advance in the
Russian drive to destroy all the Ger
man forces south of Rostov was re-
ported in Moscow a few hours after
a special Russian communique an
nounced the capture of Starobelsk.
lbs miles southeast of Kharkov, the
important industrial center of the
Ukraine. Other Russian forces.
farther north, already are within rs
miles of Kharkov.
The midday Soviet communicate.
as recorded by the Soviet radio
monitor in London, said that in this
area, where the Russians have
pressed closest to ancient Kharkov,
another enemy group had been liqui-
dated and LOO officers and men
taken prisoner. Included in the
booty, it was reported. were 260
trucks. Another unidentified COM
munity was said to have been cap
tured.
Many successes from Voronezh to
the farthest German outpostS in
the northwest Caucasus also were
reported. The drive which resulted
in the occupation of Starobelsk was
continued successfully and several
more populated places were taken
In flerce fighting, 1t was said.
The Germans were reported re-
sisting stubbornly, sometimes in
handtohand fighting, and one
place changed hands several times
before finally being occupied by
the Red Army.
again there was no mention of
the fighting around Leningrad ex-
cept that the Russian defensive
was continuing
The entire eastern and central
regions of the Caucasus have now
been cleared of the Germans and
the remaining Nazi troops there
are concentrated IN the northwest,
Russian advjces said.
The teuain between the lower
Don River and the Salsk -Tikhoretsk
railway on which the Russians are
/ now firmly entrenched offers few
elements of natural resistance
and would be difficult to hold
against the powerful blows the Rus
slams have been striking in their
current offensive, Moscow observers
said.