SLOWING DOWN

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

SLOWING DOWN

RED ARMY ADVANCES Stiller Resistance and Need To Consolidate N.Z. Press Association—Copyright 12.30 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 2. The Red Army's advance on all fronts at the moment has been slowed down, says the British United Press Moscow correspondent. This is due to a combination of factors. The first is the great extentt of the advance thus far, which has resulted in a vast extension of the Russian lines of communication and supply; the second is the stiff er German resistance, and the third is that the Russians need to consolidate what they have already won, and regroup for the next stage of the offensive. Reuters Moscow correspondent says the area before the Oder River line, where the German commander, Colonel-General Guderian, is trying to check the Russians' advance, consists of an intricate system of fortifications—huge 30ft wide anti-tank ditches, concrete pillboxes and multiple trench lines, all intertwined wiht wire extending along the Oder across highways, byroads, fields, marshes and forests. The German High Command, the correspondent adds, is endeavouring to counter Marshal Zhukov's pressure along the line from the Warthe River down to the Oder elbow by issuing orders that every defendable position must be held like a castle. The German High Command in this way hopes to transform Germany into a network of suicidal garrisons. These tactics have had some success in such fierce prolonged battles as have gone on for Posen and Konigsberg, but the system does not always work. German stormtroops at Torun thought they would be able to fight on a long time with supplies tucked away in cellars, but Red Army gunner.,?, at pointblank range, broke down the walls and Russian shock troops yesterday were able to storm the hedgehog and take it.