EXTERMINATION OF HUN DIVISIONS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 64, 16 March 1944, Page 5

EXTERMINATION OF HUN DIVISIONS

SNEGIROVKA TRAP Enormous German Losses In Escape Effort N.Z. Press Association —Copyright Rec. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 15. The Red Army is drawing the ring tighter around the trapped German divisions encircled in the Snegirovka area, 30 miles east of Nikolayev, reports the Moscow Red Star. The divisions were trapped as a result of a Soviet break-through on a wide front. The Germans were outflanked and then surrounded, the enemy suffering enormous losses as his desperate efforts to break out of the trap were shattered. Reuters Moscow correspondent says while the massacre of another German Army has begun on the southern corner of the Dnieper Bend, other desperate battles with an equally fatal outcome for the Germans are imminent unless von Mannstein can stage a last-minute stand on the eastern approaches to Nikolayev before trying to fight his way across the Bug.

Von Mannstein is faced with a crisis such as he has not experienced throughout the winter campaign, states the Associated Press Moscow correspondent. It is firmly believed in Moscow that von Mannstein, having lost his last natural defence line will not make a further determined stand until the Red Army contacts the Dniester. Nazis to Quit Odessa? The Russians have severed all German sea communications with Nikolayev, having reached the mouth of the Bug and established artillery ' positions controlling all exits to the Black Sea. The only large port now available to the Germans is Odessa, which they are believed to be preparing to evacuate. The German-controlled Stockholm Telegram Bureau quotes wellinformed circles in Berlin as stating that the German High Command, it is believed, intends to evacuate all territory east of the Bug. Kherson was the most plundered city of all he had seen liberated from the Germans, says a Pravda reporter. The Red Army burst in too quickly for the Germans to set fire to the whole town, but the enemy blew up the port installations, a power plant, a grain elevator, a flour mill and a rail station. Almost every house in Kherson was sacked. Furniture, clothing and even crockery and glassware were stolen. What the Germans could not carry away they destroyed. "Spirit of Victory" "The Russians advancing over 100 miles of the Ukraine front are gripped with the spirit of victory, perhaps unmatched since Napoleon's armies at the height of their glory," the reporter continues. "The Red Army is inspired with one aim—to force the Bug, free Odessa and reach the Dniester. This thought lends wings to their tired feet. The Russians who, after exhausting marches, dive into the river to find a damaged telephone cable, or after 24 hours without sleep wade waist deep in a river to fight on the otner side— these are very real factors in the Russian victories. A Russian general, who is described as far from sentimental, said: 'I can't stop the men.'"

German Explanation

"Taking into account the Russians' numerical superiority our

policy is to inflict casualties rather than stand and fight," said the German military spokesman quoted by Berlin radio. According to Vichy radio von Mannstein's tactics now are to disengage ana move his armies to the rear. The Red Army would like to wage a war of annihilation, but the Germans refuse it. When the enemy pressure becomes too strong the Germans evacuate.

Russians in the Prosgurov sector have repelled major tank and infantry attacks and inflicted heavy losses in manpower and equipment. Also in the Vinnitsa sector they developed an offensive and captured the town and rail junction of Kalinovka, 14 miles north of Vinnitsa and Voronovitsa, 14 miles southeast of Vinnitsa. The Russians in the Vinnitsa sector also captured Ometintsy, 37 miles south-east of Vinnitsa and six miles north of the Bug River and Pixava, 12 miles south of Vinnitsa and two miles north of the Bug, besides 50 places, including five rail stations, all on the Kali-novka-Christinovka railway.

"CRISIS HAS COME"

NAZI RADIO ADMISSION

Rec. 1 p.m

LONDON, Mar. 15

"The crisis has come," said General Dietmar, Berlin radio military commentator, in a broadcast. "A downright critical situation has arisen on the eastern front. While we are undoubtedly able to master the crisis, some time must elapse because in this terrific new battle quite an unexpected new factor must be taken into account—mud."

German radio this morning broadcast for overseas listeners a recording of Dietmar's "downright crisis" broadcast.