"LAST ASSAULT 0N HITLERITE LAIR"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 101, 1 May 1945, Page 5

"LAST ASSAULT 0N HITLERITE LAIR"

STALIN'S MESSAGE

May Day Order Calls For Heavier Blows Rec. 2.30 p.m. LONDON, April 30. In the past four months the Germans have lost nearly 1,000,000 dead and 800,000 taken prisoner, Marshal Stalin announced in an Order of the Day on the occasion of May Day. In the same period, he added, the Red Army has captured or destroyed more than 6000 planes, 12,000 tanks and self-propelled guns and 23,000 field guns,-as well as a huge quantity of other arms.

"The link-up between the Russians and the Allies in Germany," the Order adds, "means the end of Hitlerite Germany. Hitlerites are doing their utmost to sow discord among the Allies in an attempt to escape from their desperate situation. All attempts are doomed to failure.

"Fascism and German militarism will be destroyed and the guilty punished. The civilian population will not be touched if the people loyally obey the Allied Powers. The fall of. Hitler's Germany is a fact of. the nearest future. Our task is to finish off the Fascist beaet now drawing his last breath. "The Red Army's shattering blows compelled the German Command to transfer dozens of divisions to the east front, laying bare entire sectors of the other fronts, thereby helping our allies to develop a successful offensive in the west.

"The last assault on tne Hitlerite lair is on. Smite the enemy heavier blows. Break up his defence, pursue and surround the German invaders, give them no respite until they cease resistance. Forward to the final rout of Hitlerite Germany!"