DNIEPER BEND ADVANCES

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24112, 23 November 1943, Page 5

DNIEPER BEND ADVANCES

Threat to German Positions

STRONGHOLD TAKEN ON BEREZINA

(Rec. 1.30 a.m.) LONDON. Nov. 8. The Russians are launching mass attacks with enormous material in the Dnieper bend between Krivoi Rog and Nikopol, according to. the Ger-man-controlled Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau. The latest reports from Moscow say that the twin Russian advances south of Kreniencbug and south-west of Dnepropetrovsk threaten to break the German positions in the Dnieper bend based on Krivoi Rog. The Red Army is attempting to squeeze out the Germans in a new pincers movement, * In the»Korostychev area, east of Zhitomir, the Russians advanced in two sectors after repelling enemy counter-attacks.

Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the Russian forces striking northwest of Ryezhitsa, on the White Russian front, have captured Gorwal, a heavily-fortified German stronghold On the banks of the Berezina. ' The Official German News Agency reports that the Russians have made another sea-borne landing south of Kerch, in which 20 landing craft were escorted by gunboats. The agency claims that fully laden craft were sunk. It says mat three of the craft reached their objective, the remainder being driven off. The German-controlled Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau reports that the Germans are using a secret shell which is capable of piercing the thickest armour. These shells, it says, were used in the battle north of Krivoi Rog, v where they penetrated Russian mammoth tanks, which previously could not be pierced.

MOBILISATION OF GERMANS

“ ENLISTMENTS BITING INTO MANPOWER” (Rec. 1 a.m.) STOCKHOLM, Nov.. 22. “A situation is approaching in Germany when every German capable of bearing arms will be forced to serve in the armed forces,” says the Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper “Dagens Nyheter.” "Germany proclaimed total mobilisation after the fall of Stalingrad, and later developments have forced her to increase the call-up still further, as a result of which enlistments are biting deeper and deeper into the nation's manpower. “Men being released for active service include troops more than 45 years of age who were used for guarding vital centres, prison camp guards, and even criminals and anti-Nazis whose crimes are not too serious. New home guard units are being formed throughout Germany, permitting the release of more regular troops for the front. Home guards in various industries are also compelled to do police duty.”

REPRISALS ON BRITAIN

GOERING’S PROMISE (Rec. I a.m.) LONDON. Nov. 23, In a speech to miners in the Ruhr, quoted by the SwiE&.' _radio, Goering said: “You will shoo be relieved of the strain of bombing. Reprisals are beginning any day now.” SICK AND DESTITUTE IN CALCUTTA (Rec. 7 p.m.) CALCUTTA. Nov. 23. During the week ended on Saturday. 361 sick and destitute persons died in hospitals in the suburbs of Calcutta, compared with 457 during the previous week. Hospital admissions were 704, compared with 740. Australian General Dead.—The death has occurred of Major-General John Paton, aged 76. He commanded the 7th A.I.F. Brigade at Gallipoli, and was m command of t’.e rearguard at the evacuation. Major-General Paton was second in command at the Allied landing in German New Guinea in the First World War. and he led the small expedition which seized the Komet, the first enemy warship captured by the Australian forces.—Sydney, Noyember