PAVLOGRAD FALLS TO RED ARMY

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 305, 20 September 1943, Page 5

PAVLOGRAD FALLS TO RED ARMY

Vital Railway Lines

Cut

(Ry Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.)

(Received September 19, 10.15 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 19. The Russians have made important new gains on all sectors of the 600-mile central-southern front in the latest forward surge, in which they freed 100 square miles of territory. The Red Army in two swift strokes has cut the Poltava-Kiev railway at several points, which was the enemy’s last supply line to his forces east of Kiev, and has seized the key junction of Pavlograd. Other forces surging across the Dnieper steppe captured Pologi, centre of a railway network east of the Dnieper bend. Supplies to the German forces east of Kiev must now take a tortuous route by secondary railways. The Germans have lost communication with their forces east of the Dnieper bend as Poltava was cut off from the rear.

With Pologi in their hands the Russians have reached the last German defence line 50 miles from the -Crimea railway. 'The capture of Pavlograd has reduced the Dnieper escape-gap for the Germans in the Donetz salient and the Crimea and the Kuban to 30 miles. The “Sunday Times” Moscow correspondent says there is every prospect that the Germans in the main will be pushed back to the Dnieper line before the winter except possibly in the north and the extreme south. The Germans will probably put up a determined resistance to save the Crimea, but their prospects of holding a large bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper are worsening daily. Impressive Progress.

The Moscow communique says (lie Red Army yesterday iu the Kiev sector advanced from nine to 12 miles and captured more than 230 inhabited places, including Mirgorod. The Russians in the Zaporozhe and Melitopol sectors advanced from six to nine miles and occupied 120 inhabited places, including the town and railway junction of Pologi, and the town of Nogaisd. The Red Army in the Dnepropetrovsk sector advanced from three to six miles and captured .the town and large railway junction of Pavlograd, as well as 150 inhabited places. The Russians iij the Poltava-Krasno-grad sectors advanced one and a half to three and a half miles, and captured the town and large railway station of Ramadan. also south-west of Novgorod Syeversk they advanced nine to 12 miles. They also captured Sukova, 35 miles north-west of Bryansk on the BryanskRoslavl railway, also Panilovitsa, 13 miles south-west of Bryansk, and iu the Smolensk-Roslavl sectors ■ advanced three and. a half miles and captured more than oO inhabited places. The Russians in the Kuban and west of Novorossisk stormed and captured a number of strong centres of resistance, including Kievskaya.

Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that guerrillas harassing the retreating German columns have rescued 20,000 citizens of Bryansk, who were -being marched into captivity. Less destruction than usual was perpetrated at Bryansk. The Germans set fire to the town at several points and blew up a number of factories, but their main concern aiiparently was to avoid being caught in a trap. DEMANDS - OF MANY FRONTS Nazi Withdrawal From Ukraine Likely (Received September 19, 8.30'p.m.) LONDON, September 19.. Extensive German withdrawals along the whole Russian front owing to the need- to economise in men and material to meet the Allied threats elsewhere are forecast in messages from neutral correspondents in Berlin. These forecasts are coupled with reports of large-scale German troop movements to the southern Balkans and Italy. The “Sunday Timos” Stockholm correspondent says Swedish correspondents in Berlin believe that no desperate attempt will be made to retain the remainder of the Ukraine. Among the reasons given for the Germans’ inability to cheek the Russian progress is the absence of certain crack divisions from the Russian front, which are apparently.being reserved for meeting Allied landings elsewhere. Twenty thousand German troops are also reported to have been withdrawn from Norway. The Madrid correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain, says that reports are circulating widely in Berlin to the effect that the Germans may retire from Russia to the powerfully fortified “eastern Siegfried line” along the Polish frontier. All reports from the Balkan capitals indicate heavy German troop movements from the north to the south, says Reuter’s Ankara correspondent. . Troops and equipment are moving to Salonika aud southern Greece by three main routes. The Germans are also continuing to pout troops with increased speed into Italy. Ten more German divisions recently moved into Italy, where the to_tal German strength is estimated at 35 divisions. These divisions for Italy and for the Balkans are being drawn from France and from essential reserve in Germany, also to a lesser extent from Russia.

RETREAT ON VAST SCALE Towns Surrounded

(Received September 19, 6.30 p.m.)

LONDON, September 18. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the. Russians, who are not less than 45 miles from Kiev, have broadened . the wedge driven into the -German, fortified zone protecting the Ukrainian capital. One Russian column has almost surrounded the town of Priluki. The Russians after crossing the Chaplino-Berdyansk railway, advanced to within 40 miles of Zaporozhe. The Russians, with the capture of. Tishky, seven miles north of Mutiny station, cut off the German garrison at Poltava from their main base at Kiev.

General Malinovsky’s army is now only 30 miles from Melitopol, the key to the Crimea. Iu the south the Russians are pushing from Novorossisk toward Anapa. The latest reports from Novorossisk say no civilians were found there. It is not known whether the inhabitants were killed or deported. . Columns of guns and troops are moving along the Anapa road for the attack on the German bridgehead, the last German foothold 1 in -the Kuban. “The Times” says there are perhaps still seven or eight German and Rumanian divisions holding Anapa and the marshy, fever-stricken delta of the Kuban. The fall of Novorossisk further imperils their hold on the Caucasian bridgehead. The Russian Black Sea fleet is likely to play an increasingly active part in further operations. “The Times” concludes that the German retreat between Bryansk and Mariupol may have been planned in the sense that a decision to. retire was taken after the costly failure of the great armoured offensive on the flanks of the Kursk salient, but it is incredible that the German High Command proposed to retreat so far during the two months following that disaster.