Evening star., 1943-07-19
German 0re| Bastion
Menaced by Advance
Of Russian Forces
Red Armies Reported
Within II Miles
Of Strategic Town
BY the Associated Press.

MOSCOW, July 19.-The Rus
sian Army, overcoming the Ger
man fluid defense, has slugged
its way to the approaches of the
main enemy base at Orel on the
Central Russian front south rf
Moscow, the newspaper Pravda,
official Communist party organ,
announced today.
fAn NBC reporter in broad
cast from Moscow said today that
the Russians had pushed to with
in II miles of Orel from the
southeast. the Associated Press
reported from New York;
AS the battle reached the close of
the second week of furious fighting
along a 165-mile front it found the
NaZi Army. initiators of the offen-
sive, rocking back under sledge-
hammer blows of the Russian coun-
terattack which threatened the Ger
man base and the Nazi hold on the
vital Orel-Bryansk railway.
tThe Berlin radio said today in
a broadcast recorded by the As
sociated Press that Russian troops
launched violent offensive yes
terday in the Velikie Luki sector
northwest of Moscow and on the
Neva River near Leningrad with
support from heavy artillery fire
The Germans said they had
fhr0u-y, hooly ho
inflicting serious losses including
the destruction of 33 Soviet
tankS)
The Soviet midnight communique
reported that the Red Army had
advanced an additional four miles
in one sector during the fighting
yesterday, capturing several vii
lagos and killing about 5000 Ger
man troops.
Suffer Heavy Losses.
The battle, which was intended
by the Germans to pinch off the
Kursk salient and straighten out
the line, continued to pile up heavy
losses in the Nazi armored and air
divisions, the Russians said They
announced they had knocked out
78 tanks and 1877 planes Saturday
and said an incomplete check
showed 20 more tanks destroyed
yesterday to bring German losses
to total of approximately $500
tanks and 1000 planes in the last
two weeks.
Russian communicates have inGi-
Gated during the last two days that
Red Army troops were advancing
steadily if somewhat slower despite
adverse weather conditions. Their
reports of the fighting showed that
the Germans were striking at the
Soviet fanks and meltinS back in
the face of determined Red Army
mechanic attack.
The war bulletin said the Russians
succeeded in breaking in behind the
retreating Germans in several in
stances and that German prisoners
reported that the Nazi command,
mindful of what happened at Stall
ingrad, is apprehensive of flank
blows which will result in Nazi de-
tachments being cut off and sur
rounded
Engaged Large Force.
In other cases it was reported that
Russian tanks were driving deep in
the German rear One Red Army
armored unit engaged German
force four times its strength wreck
ing two tanks and routing the rest,
it was said.
The midnight communique gave
major attention to the Orel section
of the front where the major Rus
sian gains have been registered in
this. their first summer offensive.
The area around Belogorod at the
southern end of the salient, where
Field Marshal Guenther Won Kluege
made a few small gains in the early
days of the fighting, was the scene
of intensified clashes between scout
ing parties, the communique said.
The Soviet bulletin did not iden-
tify the exact locality of yesterdays
gains. but Russian dispatches dur
ing the last two days have indi-
Gated that the Red Army is within
Is miles of Orel in some localities
and even closer to the el-Bryansk
Railway.
800 Germans Killed.
(CBS said it recorded a Lon
don radio report last night which
reported that the Red Army was
only 10 miles north of the main
(See RUSSIA, Page A-14)