SIX PASSES TAKEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 95, 19 October 1944, Page 7

SIX PASSES TAKEN

„ „ LONDON, October 18. The Russians have launched an offensive from the Carpathians, and Marshal Stalin announced tonight that their forces have driven deep into the eastern corner of Czechoslovakia. They are advancingon a front of more than 170 miles/after winning- control of six passes into the Carpathian mountain barrier.

The deepest penetration is in the extreme eastern tip of Slovakia, where Russian troops who stormed the Tatra Pass have freed the town of Rochav, which is 30 miles inside Slovakia and not far from the Hungarian border. On the border itself, the town of Sighet has fallen to Russian troops attacking from northern Transylvania.

The Russian advance into Czechoslovakia is under the command of General Petrov, commander of the Fourth Ukrainian Army Group This group has been fighting- for the Carpathian passes for some weeks, and had already sent units ahead to establish contact with the Czech Forces of the Interior.

v Tonight s routine Moscow communique says that Russian and Yugoslav forces are battling to clear Belgrade, and that south-west oi the capital they have encircled an important German force