TWO-WAY DRIVE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 148, 3 April 1944, Page 3

TWO-WAY DRIVE

RUSSIANS MAKE GOOD PROGRESS RETREATING COLUMN SHATTERED. REDS REPORT CAPTURES. (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright,> (Rec. 12.35 p.m.) LONDON. April 2. ’ A frontline correspondent says that hundreds of Krupp guns are being turned westward, firing against their masters of yesterday 7. Reports filtering in from Odessa says that signs are such as “Atonescu Street” and “Hitlerstrasse” are blowing forlornly' in the winds. The German and Rumanian civilian exploiters have left Odessa.

The two-way drive against the twin railway junctions of Kishinev and Tvraspol from either side of the Dniester is making good headway against a. furious, though uncoordinated resistance by the Germans, concludes Reuter’s correspondent.

The Germans are sacking Odessa as the Red Army nears the gates of the city, says the Associated Press correspondent at Moscow. Soviet units 20 miles distant can see great columns of smoke rising thousands of feet indicating that the Germans are carrying out a policy of systematic destruction before evacuating the city. The Soviet Army, newspaper “Red Star” reports that there has bnen heavy slaughter at the crossroads north-east of Odessa, where Soviet tanks, motor-cycle tommy-gunners and cavalrymen caught a retreating German column and tore it to pieces. The enemy left hundreds of dead.

'German sources report that the Russians are maintaining heavy pressure against important Stanislawow and Kowel sectors. German reports indicate bitter fighting at Kowel, which is a fortress town guarding the approaches to Lwow. The Russians so far have not reported fighting in this sector.

The Berlin radio’s commentator (von Hammer) said that the Russians, attacking Tarnopol with vastly superior forces yesterday, broke into the town, where bitter fighting continues. The Soviet communique to-night says that forces of the First Ukrainian Front captured the district centres of Kosow and Kuty. The Russians south of Kamanetspodolsk occupied Novoselitsa, five miles north of Kuty, also the district centre of Cernauti, in the region of Herta, and several other localities. The Russians in the Kishinev direction, overcoming counter-attacks, occupied the Moldavian Soviet Republic district centre of Rezina and 20 other places. The Russians in the Odessa region fought their way into over 50 inhabited localities, including Alexandrovka.

A Rumanian communique says that Soviet forces reached the Jijia River, a tributary of the Prutli, at several points. It adds that the Russians launched powerful attacks, attempting to cross the river. They succeeded in achieving small penetrations which have been sealed off. Reuter’s correspondent points out the Jujia is the last river crossing before Jassy, which is less than 10 miles distant.