Over the Wire

LONDON-German shock troops are battling within 10 to 15 miles of Rostov and 38 to 40 miles of Moscow in the two most critical sectors of the Russian front and have opened a new offensive around Orcl, 220 miles south of Moscow, Soviet reports said today.

The Moscow radio quoted, Red, Star, Soviet army organ, as admitting that "the advance of the Germans in the Donets Basin has not been halted. The danger in the south is very grave."

The radio said fresh German divisions were thrown into the battle for the great industrial center of Kharkov and that the Russians had been forced back slightly.