LIGHTNING MOVES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 61, 13 March 1944, Page 3

LIGHTNING MOVES

CRISIS FOR GERMANS This Week May Be Most Dramatic Of The War N.Z. Press Association —Copyright Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 12. As the Germans fall back in southern Russia, military observers in London predict developments that may make this week the most dramatic of the war. They believe that nothing can now stop the Red Army sweeping through to the Rumanian border.

The question some observers are asking is: "Can the Germans this time avoid collapse of their eastern front?" Several times in the past few months it has looked as though the Russian successes must precipitate a rout, but each time German generalship has succeeded in - withdrawing the bulk of their forces in fighting condition. The present signs of panic, particularly at Uman, where the Germans abandoned mass stores, certainly do not suggest a planned retreat. The military correspondent of the Sunday Times hails the Russian break-through in the Ukraine as "the greatest victory of the war in extent, duration, slaughter, booty, skill and promise. This is not fulsome praise," he says, It is soberly true..

Struggle Along 500-Mile Front "The struggle raging along a 500mile front has already lasted six weeks since the opening move when the Russians sprang the Kanev trap, after which 40 divisions have been annihilated or dispersed, while tanks guns, lorries and equipment were' clptured on a greater scale than hitherto. . "The Russians performed a miracle according to the Germans because the rain, for which the _ Germans prayed, brought not relief but slaught." The military writer of lne Observer says von Mannstein cannot bring reinforcements from °ther narts of the front because the Red Armv elsewhere has started large holding attacks. The issmnow not one of territory but of reserves. The Germans one hope of P r ? v ing catastrophe in the east is; franqfpr troops from the Atlantic Wan or Italy This is the crisis of the German Army.