FIVE BASTIONS FALL TO REDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 177, 28 July 1944, Page 5

FIVE BASTIONS FALL TO REDS

30 Miles To Warsaw GERMANS WITHDRAW IN BREST LITOVSK AREA (N.Z.P.A. and B.O.W.—Rec. noon.) LONDON, July 27. V n-^ rea ' German bastions fell to the Russians to-day— Lwow, Bialystok, Stanislawow, Dvinsk and Rezekne. The enormous strength of the Red Army's offensive is shown by four announcements within two hours from Marshal Stalin of the capture of these five mighty defence hedgehogs. In addition, the German news agency has admitted that the German line in the area of Brest'Litovsk has been taken back under massed pressure from the enemy. With the Russians across the Vistula and only about 30 miles from Warsaw, the Soviet newspaper Izvestia declares that residents of the Polish capital can hear the firing of Marshal Rokossovsky's artillery, among which are units belonging to General Berling's Polish Army.

The Army newspaper Red Star reports first clashes to-day between German troops and Polish troops from Russia on Polish soil.

In an Order of the Day, addressed to General Zakharov, Marshal Stalin stated: "Troops of the Second White Russian Front, after two days of fighting, to-day took by storm the town and large industrial centre of Bialystok, an important railway junction and powerfully-fortified region of German defence covering roads to Warsaw."

An Order of the Day addressed to Marshal Koniev says: "Troops of the First Ukrainian Front, as the result of an outflanking manoeuvre and combined frontal assault, to-day occupied the Ukrainian regional centre and town of Stanislawow, a large railway junction and important strong point of the German defence in the foothills of the Carpathians."

An Order of the Day addressed to General Yeremenko announced: "Troops of the Second Baltic Front have taken by storm the towns of Dvinsk and Rezekne, important railway junctions in of Riga.

The skies over Moscow reverberated to the crash of 100 salvoes to-night, when the capital's greatest salute of 20 salvoes from 224 guns flashed out five times in four hours hailing the capture of Bialystok, Stanislawow, Dvinsk, Rezekne, Lwow and Siauliai. This was Moscow's greatest night of the war.