Russians Open Crimea Gateway

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 253, 25 October 1943, Page 3

Russians Open Crimea Gateway

STALIN'S MASTER PLAN Fail of Melitopol Springs One Jaw Of Dnieper Trap i • (N.Z.P.A.—Copyright.—Rec. 12.30 p.m.) i . LONDON, October 24. By swamping the German garrison at Melitopol, after 11 days of the most ferocious street fighting of the Russian war, the Red Army has accomplished half of Marshal Stalin's master plan for the envelopment of the entire German southern armies. Melitopol was the pivot of the southern front, and its capture leaves the gateway to the Crimea wide open. _ Reuters correspondent in Moscow says the fall of Melitopol springs one jaw of the trap which is set for the million Germans within the Crimea and the Dnieper bend, while the Germansadmission of their withdrawal before Krivoi Rog reveals the strength of the forces which the Russians are throwing into the development of the other jaw of the trap, which is forming as the result of the original break-through south-east of Kremenchug. Berlin radio said the German positions before Krivoi Roe were withdrawn as the result of enemy pressure.

The British United Press says Melitopol's cellars, attics and causeways are cluttered with German dead, the city's pavements are red with blood, and smashed German tanks lie askew on the roads. The Germans burned down the western part of the city and the remainder was wrecked by shells and bombs. Melitopol is a vast graveyard in which lie tens of thousands of German corpses. Second Stalingrad — But the Attackers Won "There is an almost uncanny calm now in Melitopol after the incessant chatter of machine-guns and the crash of artillery," says Reuters correspondent. "Melitopol was a second Stalingrad, with a vital difference—the attackers won. The irresistible Red Army is allowing the enemy no respite. The Russians are sweeping the Germans before them from shattered Melitopol as they fight westwards over country which is almost devoid of roads. Streams of Russian tanks and guns are pouring westward, while the Red Air Force is harrying the retreating Germans. "The fighting in the other jaw of the trap in the Dnieper bend is being maintained at tremendous intensity. The Russians are throwing in everything they have. Even Polish women tommy-gunners are fighting with the Red' Army in this sector." Paris radio stated to-night that a vicious battle is raging inside Krivoi Rog, and added that Russian tanks have forced the Germans to retreat before Krivoi Rog. The Russian drive across the Dnieper bend continues to make good' progress, and at one point the Red Army is within six miles of Krivoi Rog, states a later message. One Soviet column, moving down from the north-west, has reached a point ten miles from the city, another from the north-east has captured a station seven miles away, and , a third from the north is six miles distant. Krivoi Rog is the German supply centre for their forces in Dnepropetrovsk and the Dnieper bend areas, and its loss would put a terrible strain on their communications. Russian forces, moving down from Melitopol, have advanced six miles and are now less than 60 miles from the Crimea. The Germans' only escape route overland from the Crimea runs through Kherson, towards which Soviet forces are already moving.