TOWARDS ODESSA RAILWAY

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24152, 11 January 1944, Page 5

TOWARDS ODESSA RAILWAY

Two Russian Thrusts

RAPID ADVANCE INTO DNIEPER BEND

(Tb.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 P-m.) LONDON, January 10. The Russians are keeping up their heavy thrusts into the Dnieper bend, where a German army estimated at 500,000 is facing a choice of withdrawal or a growing risk of encirclement. The most serious Russian threat is to the north-west of the bend, where two Russian armies are driving towards the WarsawOdessa railway. One of these armies, advancing on a 40-mile front west c*f Zhmerinka, was at dusk* yesterday less than 40 miles from the railway. The second Russian army, east of Zhmerinka,, was last night only 27 miles from the railway. The Russian army which took Kirovograd is rapidly advancing into the heart of the Dnieper bend and is now more than 20 miles beyond Kirovograd. The eventual aim of this advance/is to cut down to the bottom of the bend and seal off the enemy. T?he situation of the enemy still clinging to the west bank of (he Dnieper at Kanev (about 70 miles south-west of Kiev) is even more desperate. Their only way of escape is through the rar4 junction of Smyelo, which is menaced by General Vatutin’s fpjrces 15 miles away to the north, and by other forces which jjesterday took a place 20 miles away.

I Across the 1939 Polish frontier the Russians ’'are meeting differ resistance, being held a few miles from Sarny; but the latest reports suggest that it will not be long before they resume their advance.

“Powerful Red Army forces are driving hard from the Kiev bulge to cut the Odessa-Warsaw railway, the main escape route for Hitler’s crumbling Dnieper bend army,” says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. "The Russians ere advancing in two columns on either side of the big junction of Zhmerinka, and the southern arm of this drive, which is outflanking the strongly-fortified railway junction of Vinnitsa, is now only 27 miles from the Odessa railway. “A gap of only 40 miles separates units of General Vatutin's and General Koniev’s armies, which are driving to trap the Germans in the Smyelo salient. General Koniev’s troops, with the capture of Alexandrovka,. are little more than 20 miles south-east of Smyelo. “The Russians are rapidly closing the pincers on Zhmerinka. All road communications to the town from the north and east and south-east have been severed as the Russian armoured spearhead thrusts forward. This squeeze intensifies the pressure against the Germans caught between the Soviet hammer and anvil in the Smyelo salient.” A Free German broadcast over the Moscow radio to the German Army said; “Cease hostilities and come over to the National Committee of Free Germany in Moscow. There may be 60 divisions still struggling in the Dnieper bend. How many will struggle their way across the great Ukrainian steppes to the Rumanian frontier? These divisions are meeting the fate of Napoleon’s Grand Army. The Russian armies are moving to force a trap. The German armoured divisions and infantry are being cut to pieces by the Soviet armies.”

there is no sign of firm German' resistance west of Krivoi Rog. Meanwhile General Vatutin’s westernmost spearhead beyond the 1939 Polish border is closing in on Sarny. One group is five miles to the east and another group eight miles to the southeast of the town. The Red Army has forced another break-through across the border’. Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow says that General Vatutin’s troops, striking 45 miles north-west of Novograd Volinsk, in the last 24 hours, have surged six miles over the frontier and are now thrusting across the marshes on the left flank of the main drive towards Sarny. The British United Press points out that, a year ago the Red Army was fighting its main battle at Stalingrad, 1000 miles from the borders of East Prussia, which is the nearest German territory. To-day the Russians stand before Rowno, only 250 miles from East Prussia,

The rapid progress of the Red Army In the Ukraine is shown by the capture of a number of important places announced in last night’s Soviet communique: “Troops of the first Ukrainian front continued their offensive and captured the important rail station of Polonne, 20 miles east of Shepetoyka; also Kagarlyk. 45 miles south of Kiev; Buki, 90 miles south of Kiev; and Krinnits. 30 miles north-west of Uman.

The Official German News Agency’s commentator (von Hammer) has admitted the evacuation of Kirovograd, and that the Red Army’s thrust back to the south-east from Belaya Tserkov against the sole remaining German bridgehead on the west bank of the Dnieper south of Cherkasy is making progress. "The Germans disengaged from Kirovograd after heavy and bitter street fighting,” he said. “The Russians south of Cherkasy shelled German positions for hours with a drumfire barrage from massed artillery. The Germans, however, had already evacuated the positions. Thus the Russians’ efforts were foiled. Enemy thrusts west of Ryezhitsa (in White Russia, southwest of Gomel) were beaten off and a few penetrations were sealed off.”

“Troops of the second Ukrainian front captured Alexandrovka, a district centre in the Kirovograd region, betides more than 40 inhabited places.” The Moscow radio, saying that Hitler had sent fresh divisions to the first Ukrainian front, added; "These reserves will fare no better. They will be splintered and then wiped out.” “Across Enemy Communications’'

“The fact that Red Army forces are SO miles north-west of Uman shows that General Vatutin is driving clear across the German Dnieper bend army’s communication lines from the rear,” says the British United Press. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says: "Red Army infantry, tanks, and artillery are pouring through Kirovograd in a neverending stream to continue the battle against the retreating Germans. The Russians’ break-through at Kirovograd threatens to drive one half of the German Dnieper bend army to the Black Sea and compress the other half against the southern side of the Russians’ salient in the Kiev bulge. "One lied Army column fanning out *outh-ws*t from Kirovograd has already progressed 25 miles. Another tank column, which is striking for Novo Ukrainka, will have completely outflanked the German position at Krivoi Rog when it gains that town.” The correspondent says that so far

There is no news from Moscow of recent fighting in the north, but German reports speaks of strong Russian pressure on the White Russian front. The German-controlled Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau quotes a German military spokesman as saying; “From all fronts and storm centres it is confirmed that the present great retreat may be followed by an even greater one. The Russians are throwing in all their forces, not only to make territorial gains but to crush and liquidate the whole front.”

Swedish correspondents report that German newspapers yesterday avoided comment on the situation on the Eastern Front and confined themselves to leading articles on the spread of Communism in North Africa.

A Moscow report says that a second Polish division shouting; “On to Warsaw,” has gone to the front for the offensive in Poland. The division includes a women’s battalion.

NAZI TERROR IN KIROVOGRAD

BALTIC FRONT

GERMANS FEAR NEW RUSSIAN THRUSTS LONDON. Jan. 9. “The Germans have ordered a total black-out of the country areas and towns in the Baltic States. Reporting this, the diplomatic correspondent of the "Observer” says: "The Germans fear big Russian thrusts towards the Baltic States. The civilian population is being evacuated from Estonia and the Latvian coastal regions, which are being strengthened to meet any Soviet attacks from the sea. “The Russian Air Force is reported to have resumed its heavy attacks on the Baltic ports, including Riga and Tallinn.”

THOUSANDS DIE DURING OCCUPATION

(Rec. 7 p.m.)

LONDON, Jah. 9.

A gruesome account of the results of the German occupation of Kirovograd has come from Moscow. “The Germans destroyed great factories and high schools, blew up entire blocks of residential buildings, and destroyed monuments,” says that report. “Factory installations were sent to Germany. Tens of thousands of civilians were executed, starved to death, or transported to Germany.

‘‘The first mass execution was in October, 1941, when 5000 men and boys over 10 years old were murdered by automatic riflemen. Only a third of the original population remains. The treatment of war prisoners in the camps nearby was monstrous. In two camps alone tens of thousands died, “Yet in spite of the terror the population carried out underground work, helping partisans, supplying them with hnns and food, and distributing leaflets. A large bridge built by the Germans p’ as blown up, and a big house the Germans were building for themselves collapsed before completion."

The diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says: “All the indications point to the Russians beginning a big thrust towards the Baltic States. The Soviet First Baltic Army group will soon be supported by offensives opened up by the second and third Baltic groups. These groups have been waiting for a chance to punch wide gaps in the German lines north of the Pripet Marshes similar to those already punched in the south.”

LANDING ATTEMPT REPORTED

LESS TRADE ACROSS

BALTIC

SWEDISH-GERMAN TRADE

BLACK SEA COAST EAST OF ODESSA (Rec, 11 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 10. The Germans report a Russian landing attempt on the Black Sea coast 40 miles east of Odessa. They claim that the attack was repulsed. There is no news of a landing from Moscow.

AGREEMENT

(Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON. Jan. 9. An official announcement of the confusion of a new Swedish-German trade agreement is imminent, says Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent. The agreement is believed to provide a reduction of Swedish iron ore exports to Germany from 10,000.000 tons in 1943 to 7,000,000 tons in 1944. German coal exports to Sweden. * a ys Reuter’s, will be cut from 4,000,000 tons in 1943 to 3,000,000.

DIFFICULT TIME FOR ÜBOATS LONDON. Jan. 9. “Though fewer successes are being recorded, the German people firmly believe that Admiral Doenitz’s battle-cry ‘We will come again,’ will shortly come true.” says the Official German News Agency. “The German U-boat arm is going through a difficult period owing to technical alterations.”

Communist Killed.—German soldiers in Copenhagen trapped Victor anH Sen ’ £* an * s b Communist leader, p a companion, into promising aid to h p .”t an soldier who pretended that Q t to desert to Sweden, says a , ocjcholm message. Both Larsen and T i°? pan r° n wel> e killed by rifle fire, January 9,