ZHUKOV'S FLANKS PRESSING FORWARD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 29, 3 February 1945, Page 5

ZHUKOV'S FLANKS PRESSING FORWARD

BROADENING FRONT Closing In On Frankfurt And Kustrin N.Z. Press Association-r-Copyright Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 2. Marshal Zhukov is closing in on Frankfurt and Kustrin, and is throwing more tanks and infantry towards the Oder River to support those which reached the river yesterday, says the British United Press Moscow correspondent.. Both Marshal Zhukoy's right and left flanks are pressing forward in great strength, spreading out oh a broadening front over areas south of the Warthe River and north of the Oder Bend. The Exchange Telegraph Moscow correspondent, says the enemy is throwing in desperate counterattacks east of Frankfurt and Kustrin, vainly trying to seal off breaches in the outer defences of both fortresses. The Associated Press correspondent in Moscow says that. Russian airmen flying west of the Oder have reported that the main highways and railways, which are under almost incessant attack, are jammed with German military traffic moving eastward.

Reuters Moscow correspondent says the Germans in the "Berlin bulge" are trying to co-ordinate their panzers with groups of junkers, bombers and Messerschmitt fighters but the Soviet Air Force is splitting this combination while Stormoviks hunt enemy tanks, which are attempting to concentrate in forests and at road junctions.

Observers In Moscow see the beginning of an important outflanking movement against Berlin from the south-east with reports of fighting in the Northern Silesian area. The combined forces of Marshals Zhukov and Koniev here are striving to extend their hold on the Oder River some 50 miles north-west of Breslau.

The Exchange Telegraph Moscow correspondent, commenting on this development, says large German forces which are resisting stubbornly along the Oder are threatened with encirclement. Greatest of Tank Battles Some of the greatest tank battles of the war are flaring up as Marshal Zhukov's armies advance against Frankfurt in the centre of the Red Army's fist, says Reuters Moscow correspondent. The Germans have sent out strong panzer screens and are trying to transform the struggle on the approaches to the Oder River line into a battle of manoeuvre across the sandy, lake-dotted Brandenburg plain. Whether Marshal Zhukov will choose to strike immediately across the Oder directly for Berlin or seek in the first place to strengthen his flanks and broaden his front, the correspondent adds, will largely be determined by the extent to which the Oder is frozen over. It is believed that the exceptionally severe winter has resulted in freezing the river at a number of points but whether sufficiently to carry the Russians across at present is not known. In any case it is a fundamental part of Red Army tactics not to halt at a river barrier when the enemy is on the run, but to cross and seize bridgeheads before the opponent has time to regroup and organise his defences.

The most likely development is that Marshal Zhukov will endeavour to storm the Oder in the most favourable sectors and secure footholds for later consolidation and extension, while at the same time spreading out on his flanks, especially in the direction of the Baltic coast at Stettin, on the. estuary of the Oder. The stage would then be set for a general advance on Berlin. The Russian push from south-east of Stettin has at the moment slowed down, but the second prong of the Red Army's advance which is threatening a new Baltic encirclement between Stettm and Danzig is moving steadily nearer the coast and Koslin, on the Danzig-Stettin railway, looms as a new objective for the Red Armyfighting its way through Pomerania. Thaw Causes Quagmire A German news agency commentator said the German Command can be expected to make good use of two new developments which are now occurring on the Eastern Front. One is that the flanks of the Russian forces forging west are becoming more and more extended and proportionately endangered. The other is the big thaw which has transformed the battlefield into a quagmire. Tracked vehicles and cars are forced to keep to roads where previously they roamed at will over snow-bound fields and frozen waterways.