MARSHAL VATUTIN DEAD

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 13430, 18 April 1944, Page 5

MARSHAL VATUTIN DEAD

SIX WEEKS’ ILLNESS London, April 15. Marshal Nikolai Vatutin, commander of large Russian Army groups on the southern front until six weeks ago, is reported to have died following an operation. The Moscow radio says that Marshal Vatutin’s illness began six weeks ago when Marshal Zhukov took over command of the First Ukrainian Army. Forty Marshals of the Red Army, including Zhukov and Voroshilov, have issued a manifesto paying tribute to Vatutin, a monument to whose memory will be erected at Kiev.

Marshal Vatutin, who entered the Red Army as a private at the age of 19, led the First Ukrainian Army from the Doll Bend into Poland. It was reported by the Ankara correspondent of the Associated Press on March 18 that Marshal Vatutin was said to be going to London to take an important advisory post with the British and Ameiican invasion staff. Marshal Stalin s Order of the Day, announcing the illness of Marshal Vatutin was made previously.