SWIFT ADVANCE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 147, 1 April 1944, Page 3

SWIFT ADVANCE

IN THE CARPATHIANS. FURTHER RUSSIAN SUCCESSES. DEVELOPING TRAP IN UKRAINE. (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright.) LONDON, March 31. A swift Russian advance into the foothills of the Carpathian mountains has followed the fall of Cernauti, capital of Bucovina and a main communications centre.

Soon after the collapse of the German garrison in Cernauti the Russians were reported 12 miles south of the city and, to-day, Moscow reports say they are already within 12 miles of tlie border of Rumania.

From Kolomea, which was captured earlier, the Russians under Marshal Zhukov have advanced 15 miles and are now only 15 miles from the border of the province of Ruthenia, the Czechoslovak district taken by Hungary in the pre-war partition. Stanislawow is invested by the Russians. and the German garrison in Tarnopol. completely cut. off and fighting desperately against impossible odds, can be supplied only by air.

Marshal Koniev’s right flank is moving up the Pruth River to join Marshal Zhupkov’s men. The two armies are now 10 miles apart. Marshal Koniev’s left flank is thrusting down the river and is already developing a threat to the escape routes of the German forces falling back from the box of territory remaining to them in the Ukraine. From the north and north-east Marshal Koniev’s and General Malinovsky’s armies are compressing the Germans back against the lower Dniester and Odessa.

A swift movement enabled the Russians to overcome the German defences before Cernauti and break into the town. Extremely violent battles raged in the town, which the Germans defended with crack units and reserves transferred from other sectors. The Moscow radio says that, according to reports from Bucharest, the roads in Rumania are full of panicstricken people. “The situation is similar to that in France before the collapse. Thousands of people are fleeing westwards.”

“Cernauti is the first town across the Pruth river to fall to the Russiaps,” says Reuter. “One railway runs from Cernauti southwards through Roman, Galatz, and Ploesti, to the Danube Valley. Another runs west and south through the Carpathians to Hungary. Marshal Zhukov has already cut this railway at Kolomea and Delatyn. “Marshal Zhukov has at last extricated his tanks from the Ukraine mud and they are now storming at high speed and in great strength up a good road in the Carpathian foothills. These tanks, which burst on the surprised garrison at Kolomea, are now reported to be nearing the Galician oil town of Stanislawow, which controls another road over the Carpathians.

“Red Army tanks are already across the Pruth river in large numbers. One tank unit which entered Cernauti outfought the Germans last July in Byelgorod. “Marshal Zhukov’s drive is taking him at. right angles across the roads leading to the Carpathians, thereby cutting one by one the Germans communications between their bases and Hungary and the forces at Lwow. “Marshal Zhukov’s advances have been so swift that there has been no time to lay telephone lines. The Red Army is communicating with its advanced forces by radio. “The Russians have taken prisoner many Hungarians who appear to be willing prisoners. Groups of them walk hack without escort to the assembly points along the Dniester. “Marshal Zhukov and Marshal Koniev now jointly hold the whole of the Dniester bank between Kamenets Podolsk and Mogilev Podolsk. This means that the whole of the Proslturov pocket has been finally sealed off, leaving no retreat for the trapped Gei mans.”