Evening star., 1943-04-24
Nazi Counferatiacks
5Iacken in Russia;
5000 Men LOST
Air Fighting Furious;
200 Soviet Bombers
Hummer lnsterbura
BY EDDY GILMORE,
Press War Corresnonden

MOSCOW, April 24.-The fu-
rious German counterattacks in
the Kuban region of the Cau-
casus, which in the last few days
had approached the intensity of
an offensive, slackened signifl-
cantly today as the Germans
counted several thousand of
their dead in addition to a heavy
loss in airplanes, tanks, guns
and munitions, Russian front
dispatches said.
The dispatches gave no immediate
explanation for the cessation of the
Nazi attacks, which had been
marked by numerous futile charges
against the Russian lines from the
Black Sea coast near Novorossisk,
through the Kuban delta to the
coast of the Sea of Azov.
The Germans lost almost 5000
men and about 200 planes in less
than week, 1t was reported.
Dispatches yesterday had re-
ported the use of fresh Axis reserves
in their Caucasus bridgeheads.
Heavy Air Fighting.
The fury of the air fights did not
slacken in the sector, however.
The Red Army sir force raided a
German airdrome, causing a num-
Der Of explosions and large fires.
Russian flyers also struck one of
their biggest blows of the war
Thursday night and yesterday
morning when more than 200
bombers raided Insterburg. 1t was
the fourth attack on East Prussian
cities this month. It began to ap-
pear that the Russians and the
British american aviation forces
had divided up their military targets
and now were working on a definite
plan.
Insterburg is large German COM
mlssary base, concentration point
for reserves and ali important rail
junction between Koenigsberg and
Riga.
Red Star said the planes arrived
precisely on schedule in good
weather and encountered heavy
ground fire, which soon slackened
as bombs saturated the city. The
Germans sent up numerous night
fighters, but the dispatch said they
were apparently disconnected by
the large number Of Soviet planes. y
Heavy explosions were heard and
reserve troop barracks soon were
blazing furiously, Red Star said.
"A big explosion occurred in the
eastern part of the city where artil-
lery stores are located" the report
said. This was followed by numerous
small fires which broke out over a
large area. Whole blocks of bar
racks, storehouses and other mill
tary objectives were enveloped in
flames"
After unloading their bombs, the
planes swept low and strafed mill
tary objectives until all their shells
and machine-gun fire were spent
The flyers said they could see the
glow of flames far beyond the Ger
man frontier.
tThe German communioue as
broadcast by the Berlin radio and
recorded by the Associated Press
said 10 Soviet planes were shot
down /, in Russia Thursday and
yesterday with loss of four Ger
man planes)
$3.50 Planes Shot Down.
Pravda, the Communist party
newspaper, discussing the need for
skill in repulsing the German Air
Force, said 5000 planes were shot
down by the Russians during their
winter offensive and said the Ger
man Air Force lost 285 aircraft in
attempts to raid Rostov, Krasnodar
and Kursk, all now held by the Rus
slams.
STILL" said Pravda, "the enemy S
air fleet is very strong and is a po-
tent weapon in the hands of the
German command"
Pravda recounted that in one
night attack on German afrdromeS
by Russian long-range bombers SO
enemy planes were destroyed and in
another nocturnal raid IS were de-
stroyed.
A Red Star dispatch from the
Kuban revealed that a detachment
of Russian marines played heroic
role in repulsing German counter
attacks. The fact that the marines
have joined in the Kuban battling
indicates they might have made a
landing on the Black Sea coast, al
though it is possible they could have
moved up the coastal highway.
(The Italian communioue to-
day asserted that Italian E-boats
aided in the destruction of Rus
sian E-boats attempting to land
at a port in the Crimea. The
port was not identified)