BREAK- THROUGH ON TWO MAJOR FRONTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 207, 1 September 1943, Page 3

BREAK- THROUGH ON TWO MAJOR FRONTS

POWERFUL STROKES

Vast United Offensive Operation N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 12:30 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 31. Moscow has announced that the Soviet new offensive in the Smolensk direction has broken through strong fortifications on a 30-mile front and advanced 10 to 19 miles. The Russians are attacking another strongly-fortified zone in the Sevsk ar-ea. They smashed through on a 63-mile front and drove irresistibly onward 38 miles into the Northern Ukraine. Advances in the Kharkov area and an official statement that the Russians are mopping up in the Taganrog area complete the picture of a vast united offensive operation. Whole Front May Crumble Reuters military writer says, "It is clear now that the whole German front is crumbling. Orel, Kharkov and Taganrog are merely portents that a bigger development is in the offing.

Bryansk and Poltava are already threatened. Smolensk, formerly Hitler's headquarters, and one of the greatest prizes of all, is almost within Russian hands. The prospects of a German retreat along the whole line is no longer remote, but the real question is—will the Germans be able to get behind the Dnieper River in time?" Great Victory at Yelnia "The great Russian victory at Yelnia is doubly remarkable," continues Reuters correspondent. "It not only represents a tremendous wedge driven through the main German defensive line covering their centre, but has been achieved when great Russian armies are carrying out immense, successful offensives elsewhere. The might and resources disclosed in these operations are astonishing. _ The Wehrmacht, which once deemed itself invincible, is falling back and abandoning position after position even in the most strongly fortified areas. It is most remarkable, because the rate of progress of the Russian advance seems to be accelerating almost daily."