RED ARMY NOW IS KEY TO UKRAINE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 38, 15 February 1943, Page 3

RED ARMY NOW IS KEY TO UKRAINE

BIGGEST WINTER GAIN

Gives Russians Mastery Of Vital Links

N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright Rec. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 14. The recapture of Rostov is the Red Army's biggest triumph in the occupation of cities since the great winter offensive was launched on November 19. The Russians have thereby regained mastery of the vital communications in th,e centre, secured their left flank for the destruction of Hitler's southernmost army, and completed the .first stage of the reconquest of the Donetz Basin. Military commentators in London say that Rostov, which last year was for the Germans the "gateway to the Caucasus," has become the gateway to the Ukraine for the Russians, who now possess a strong hinge for the envelopment which is already overshadowing the whole German front northwards from the Sea of Azov. The fall of Rostov, which ranks in triumph with the annihilation of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, will most likely greatly affect the morale of the Germans, who are practically entrapped in the Donetz Basin. The reoccupatlon of Voroshilovgrad is significant because it is an important Donetz Basin city, the control of which consolidates the Russian grip on the area which was intended to be the southern buttress of the German armies. The German army of 250,000 within the great Donetz Bend is trying to escape from the trap behind it from the northern reaches of the river and the Sea of Azov. Several more important gains were announced in a special Soviet communique last night, the most outstanding of which is the capture of the town and railway station of Zolochev, 20 miles north-west of Kharkov on the main KharkovBryansk line. After smashing a powerful line of fortifications in the northern Donetz area, the Russians are advancing westward on a broad front, says the Moscow radio. Fighting is now raging at the approaches to several big Ukrainian cities. Many districts in the Kharkov and Stalino regions have been liberated.