WHOLE NAZI FRONT MENACED BY REDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 225, 22 September 1943, Page 3

WHOLE NAZI FRONT MENACED BY REDS

(N.Z.P.A. —Copyright.—Rec. noon.) LONDON, September 21. Three vital fortress towns, upon which the entire German front hinges, are now directly threatened by the Russians - Smolensk, Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk. The Russians captured a.. Chernigov, 75 miles north-east of Kiev, to-day and in doing so have smashed through the last water barrier before the Dnieper line. They have begun closing the trap against Kiev, which is the anchor of the German hopes of a strong winter line. In this sector General Rokossovsky's men had to force their way across the Desna, then fight southward in an outflanking movement. .. .. Russian spearheads are now less than 25 miles from Kiev, and advanced forces are beyond Slavgorod, half-way between" Zaporozhe and Dnepropetrovsk, less than 10 miles from the Dnieper. The Germans are making a desperate effort to concentrate their forces for the defence of Kiev, but there is little sign that they will be able to do more than fight a delaying action, for the Russians are now converging against the city from the east' and from the north-east.