NORTHERN RAILWAYS BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 96, 19 January 1944, Page 5

NORTHERN RAILWAYS BATTLE

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, January 17. Soviet artillery has struck a new blow north-west of Velikiye Luki which will vibrate throughout the German-occupied territory in the Leningrad area and the Baltic Provinces, states a Moscow message. The break-through between the fortress of Dno and of Noto Sokolniki has added, a new detour to the already tortuous German communications. The German garrisons guarding the MoscowRiga railway will now have to fight on “two fronts.”

Besides threatening the complete isolation of Novo .Sokolniki, the Russians have widened out the front of operations against the Polotsk-Pskov railway, one of the main supply routes' of the Germans ip. the Leningrad region. Soviet troops are continuing to push back the enemy in the area north of Novo Sokolniki, states Moscow radio. Lakes covered with unsafe ice? thick forests, and whole areas covered with snow are characteristic of this region. The Germans, taking advantage of the terrain, have erected a nnmber s of strongholds, and are offering fierce resistance. The Soviet troops, despite all the difficulties, are forging ahead, carrying out skilful bynass manoeuvres and encircling and annihilating strongpoints.