RUSSIANS PRESSING FORWARD

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 13334, 22 December 1943, Page 3

RUSSIANS PRESSING FORWARD

NEW OFFENSIVE IN THE NORTH THREAT TO VITEBSK INCREASED Gap In Enemy Defences Widened Red Army Poised for Drive On Poland London, Dec. 21. The Russians are keeping; up the great weight of their attacks between Novel and Vitebsk, widening the gap they have torn in the enemy’s defences and harassing all the German attempts:! to rally their battered formations. In a message from Moscow it is stated by one correspondent that Red Army spearheads are little more than 20 miles north of Vitebsk, and it is significant that Hitler’s communique refers to fighting in what he calls, “the Vitebsk battle area.” Heavy fighting is going on by day and night, and so far from the Russian offensive showing any signs of slackening, the Germans themselves speak of the intensified pressure of the Red Army’s attack. The Germans are still reporting heavy attacks to the north-west of Nevel, where the Russians are said to be using tanks on a vast scale. So far Moscow has not said anything about operations on this part of the front.

An earlier message stated that two veteran Russian armies are poised for a decisive spring towards the Polish border —General Bagramyan’s men, who forced the dangerous wedge south of Nevel, and General Rokossovsky’s White Russia troops, who, after the lull enforced by bad weather, are prepared to deal fresh blows against the vital Shlobin-Minsk-Orsha railway triangle.

The enemy yesterday resumed his counter-attack against the tip of the Kiev salient near Korosten. These were on a smaller scale than in the past and the main weight of the German counter-blow has now been shifted farther south, around Kirovograd. The Germans have brought up big tank and infantry forces in an attempt to hold up the Russian drive on this important road centre. On some sectors they have been sending as many as 100 tanks into action at a time but they have not shaken the Red Army’s bridgehead.