Evening star., 1943-07-10
Nazis Attempt
To Widen Gap
In Soviet Line
Bitter Fight Roges
Along the Entire
BeIgorod Front
BY the Associated Press.


ocked in a series of bitter battles
asst night on the BeIgorod front
Is attacking Nazi forces fought
'rantically to expand the thin
wedge which they had driven
nto the Red Army lines two days
lgo.
Dispatches from the front said
oday that in the past "a hours some
,ositions in the sector at the foot
VI the 200-mile Belgorod
)rel bulge had changed hands sew
'ral times in the course of heavy
lighting. In some sectors, the Rus
,ians said, separate Red Army de-
were forced to withdraw
,nly to launch vigorous counter
attacks on the arrival of fresh re-
,erves.
Nazis Increase Claims.
The attacking Germans were
paying for their latest frenzied
Effort with the same reckless ex-
,enditure of armored strength and
as in past major offen-
ives, the Russians said.
CThe German high command
communique, recorded by the As
sociated Press, claimed the at
tacking forces had won "consid-
cradle territorial gains" north Of
Belgorod against the embittered
resistance of Russian reserves
newly thrown into the great
battle.
Ut raised the number OF
Soviet tanks claimed to have
been destroyed or captured since
July to l ,227 and declared that
1l9 Russian planes were shot
down yesterday. Heavy artillery
duels were raging south OF Orel,
the Nazis reported.
CTransocean. German news
agency, said that fighting both
on the ground and in the air
was continuing with extraordi-
nary fierceness," and that the
scope of the struggle was spread
both in the Orel and Belgorod
sectors) -..-
Russian Tanks Dig In.
Stationary tanks dug into the
Russian plains and, camoufaged
into perfect ambush, were reported
to have knocked out 40 German
tanks, including 18 of the new 60
ton Tigers, in one sector as Field
Marshal Guenther Won Kluge
pushed his all-out assault into its
sixth day.
The Red Army reversed usIfsl
battle tactics TO smash back the
latest German attacks, converting
its armored divisions into rocklike
strong points and hitching its artll-
lery to mobile conveyors so that it
could be speeded from point to point
when the German columns threat
ened, Soviet dispatches said.
The Russian fire bag technique
more than an ambush
which has trapped advancing Nazi
tank columns-was said TO have
been extremely successful on the
defense. At one point an ambush
was created to head off German
fanking movement and 20 NaZi
tanks were set afire within the first
few minutes after they plunged
into the bag.
Fight RACES on Wide Front.
The Russians said that everywhere
along the front the battle was con-
on a large scale. They said
the Germans had been rebuffed as
firmly as on the first day, but de-
clared the Nazis were pressing the
attacks with crazy stubbornness.
The Russian defense was said to be
by high activity and
With grim satisfaction. the Rus
slams noted that the German air
force was so shaken by the first days
of battle that it now is fighting with
reduced SquadronS, often composed
of obsolete types of planes.
Soviet planes maintaining the ini-
tiative. bombed the German rear for
the fifth successive night.
There was little change In the
yesterday, according to a
Soviet communique. which said that
the Red Army was continuing to
battle enemy tanks which pre-
viously had penetrated the Russian
positions at Belgorod.
German Tanks Destroyed.
In one engagement in the Bel
gorod area yesterday. the bulletin
said, 80 to so attacking German
tanks were destroyed.
Berlin broadcasts declared
that German forces had pene-
trated 36 miles northward to-
ward Kursk in thrust from
the southern anchor OF the
battle front at Belgorod)
While the German armies pushed
hard against the Russian line from
Orel to Belgorod, the Red Army
that it had held its own.
In the sky battle, the Russians
said, the German air force was
paying heavily in planes for its
dVGCllpb " IOlL UnSh tliC ISuoSAoii
to clear the way for the
ground advance.
From front line dispatches it ap-
peared that it was just south OF
Orel, where the battle line bends
to the west, that the Nazi army
was making its greatest effort.
(The Germans, in a propa-
ganda broadcast, told of "f'ero-
cious fighting" in the Orel area
and said Nazi troops could gain
ground only inch by inch.D
Soviet Planes Active.
The Russians said German
thrust by tanks. air and infantry
along a narrow front on the Orel-
Kursk front had been stopped dead,
although the Germans had brought
up reinforcements consisting of nine
divisions of infantry and q tank
division. Meanwhile, it claimed
that its own airforce had ranged far
behind the German line to bomb
German supply trains and troop
Soviet air activity, the Russiar.s
said, had been highly successful, Red
Army flyers escaping without the