BEHIND KHARKOV

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 270, 10 August 1943, Page 5

BEHIND KHARKOV

Swiftly-Developing Thrusts (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received August 9, 1 1.25 p.m.) LONDON, August 9. The Red Army is keeping the Germans on the run in its great offensive against Kharkov. Continuing their remarkable push over a 60-mile-wide front, the Russians yesterday captured the town of Bogodukov, 35 miles west-south-west of Kharkov and have advanced a further 1 0 miles to the west, and they have also reached a point 1 6 miles north-west of the suburbs of Kharkov. Another spearhead, striking to the north-west, is just over.2o miles from the important town of Sumy. As a result of the fast-developing offensive the Germans in Kharkov now have an escape gap about 50 miles wide to the south only. All three railway lines leading north and north-west from Kharkov have now been cut by the Russians. The two other main lines are still open, but most of the great railway system of which Kharkov is the centre is now in Russian hands. Reuter points out that th< capture of Bogodukov, which Moscow officially announces, has cut the Kharkov-Sumy railway.

Tho advance on the Bryansk front continues steadily. Tlie Red Army newspaper “Red Star” lias issued a special call to the guerrillas in White Russia (to the west of Smolensk) to prepare for new battles. “The echo of our guns, roaring beyond Orel and Byelgorod, is being heard at Kiev and on tlie Dnieper and Dvina,” it says, and, addressing “the three millions of White Russians under tlie German heel,’ it adds, “We are coming soon.” Last night’s Soviet communique stated: “The Russians on the Bryansk front advanced four to eight miles and occupied more than 150 inhabited localities. On the Kharkov front the Russians advanced eight to 10 miles and captured more than GO inhabited localities, including Bogodukov.” Two Escape Railways. The Russians yesterday captured Bolshik, IB miles north-west of Kharkov, after by-passing the city from the north and cutting two of the railways northwest of the city. Forces then struck westward to Bolshaya Pisaevka, 18 miles from Kharkov, thereby cutting the third railway, which runs north-west and links Kharkov with the Dnieper River. This wide pincer movement, which is intended to encircle Kharkov by cutting all the railways leading west, and northwest, is developing simultaneously with frontal thrusts toward the city from Zorochev, in the north-west. ' The Stockholm correspondent of ‘ The Times” says the Russians are also moving from the Chuguyev bridgehead, and if they succeed in extending this arm south of Kharkov the German base there will have to be evacuated to avoid complete encirclement. ... The Red Air Force is heavily bombing the Germans’ remaining- two railways. The Russians are widening the scope of their twin drive toward, the Ukraine and stepping up its intensity. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the Russians are now definitely threatening the important town of Sumy. The British United Press correspondent at Moscow reports that Churchill, Valentine and Matilda tanks are participating in the Russian drive for the liberation of Kharkov and the Ukraine. They are part of the endless columns of Russian tanks and lorries pouring through the gaps south and south-west of Byelgorod. The correspondent adds that the advance is speeding up and the lending Russian motorized units are wiping out scores of small German garrisons. Fresh Russian infantry and motorized units are smashing their way forward along a

path blasted by the greatly superior Russian assault planes. Russian tank forces, after penetrating the deep German defences in the Byelgorod area, are now roaming at will on the wide spaces of the Ukrainian steppe. Hitler’s Conference. One Axis-controlled radio suggested that the Russians’ aim is the freeing of the great wheatlands of the. Ukraine before the harvest, and the. Stockholm correspondent of the British United Press goes as far as to say that Hitler already has discussed with his generals the desirability of a withdrawal to the Dnieper River, or even further west. General Rokossovsky’s duplicate twin drive on the Bryansk front, 200 miles further north, is also progressing toward Bryansk itself. The Russians in this area are thrusting from a point 18 miles west along the railway from Orel and are also attacking south-westward along the main road. ■ Correspondents agree that the Germans, both round Kharkov and on the front east of Bryansk, are offering strong organized resistance, and only being pushed back through overwhelming Russian pressure. CIVILIANS REMOVED (Received August 9, 8.20 p.m.) LONDON, August 8. The Moscow “Red Star” says that the Germans left Byelgorod a 'man-made wilderness. The Germans had posted evacuation notices in the town ordering the population to leave by July 29, and with bloodhounds they tracked down inhabitants who were hiding in and woods and forced them to trek to Kharkov.