SEA OF FLAME

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 124, 21 February 1944, Page 5

SEA OF FLAME

Red Air Force Raid On Pskov ENEMY TRAINS HIT (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright) (Received February 20, 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, February 19. Moscow radio announced last night that a large number of planes attacked the railway junction at Pskov, ou the northern front, where enemy trains were concentrated. Enemy military dumps there were also bombed. Eighty fires were started, followed by terrific explosions. At least 15 enemy trains were left burning and the whole junction was a sea of fire. Three Russian planes are missing.. A Russian communique states: “Soviet troops yesterday south-west and south of Luga occupied the railway station of Pivusa in the Leningrad region, and more than 30 other localities. South of Lake Ilmen Soviet troops advanced and occupied more than 100 localities, including two railway stations. On the previous day on all fronts 47 enemy tanks were destroyed or disabled and eight German planes shot down.”

CAPTURE CONFIRMED Fall Of Staraya Russa

LONDON, February 18.

Tonight’s Moscow communique announces the capture of Staraya Russa, the great hedgehog fortress in northern Russia, the evacuation of which had previously been announced by the Germans The Moscow correspondent of the As sociated Press of Great Britain says that the abandonment of Staraya Russa signals a general collapse of the Germa i forces in north Russia. Staraya Russa was one of the most powerful German hedgehogs, to which they elung stubbornly for more than 2J years. Its fall opens the way for a Russian drive to the Balta States. Staraya Russa was the anchoof the German positions south of Lane Ilmen. Its evacuation, together with the Soviet drive and landing ou the east shore of Lake Piepus, brings the fall ot the next great fortress, Pskov, measurably nearer. ' Reuter’s Moscow correspondent states that the big new Russian thrust wmcl. has developed south of Lake Ilmen, is threatening the German line guarding Pskov. General Meretskov’s trobps have already cut one of the roads linking Staraya Russa and Pskov, and are advancing toward a second highway. Battle for Narva. Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent quotes the German-controlled Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau as sayiug that the Russians and Germans are concentrating great masses of heavy artillery on Inc banks of the Narva River, and that the battle is hourly increasing in intensity. “The sky over Narva is dyed a fiery red from the flashes of hundreds of guns. The Helsinki correspondent of the •“Aftonbladet” states that the Germans have ordered the evacuation of Rakvere, <0 miles west of Narva. . , , According to reports received in Stockholm from Helsinki, Russian parachutists have landed west of Narva, while some German troops still clinging to positions on the east bank of the Narva River have been encircled.

Tonight’s Soviet communique says: “The Russians south-west and south ot Luga occupied several places, and also west of Novgorod continued the offensive and captured the large railway station of Shimskaya. “The Red Army south of Lake Ilmen went over to the offensive and captured Staraya Russa, besides 40 other inhabited places. The Russians north of Svenigorodka completed mopping up isolated enemy groups seeking the safety of woods and gullies.”

SLAUGHTER AT KANEV 100,000 Germans Sacrificed

LONDON, February 18. Describing the last scenes in the Kanev pocket, Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the last 48 hours saw the bloodiest of the whole fortnight’s fighting. The Germans, fortified by a triple issue of schnapps, tried ui der a heavy snowstorm to fight their way out in groups. _ They met withering mortar and ' machinegun fire, and were mowed down in thousands. Eight thousand were killed iu the last 48 hours. A United Press correspond'ent declares that the end came suddenly. The enemy did not know the Russians were upon them till the last moment because a roaring wind drowned the Cossacks’ battle cries. The Cossacks’ charge was the final blow. The Russian victory in the Kanev pocket was even more complete than was at first thought. A dispatch from Moscow says that,' in’addition to the 52,000 Germans killed and 11.000 captured, thousands more are hiding in gullies and woods, and the so-called relief army of von Mannstein last 20,000 killed. It is estimated that the Germans have lost nearly 100,000 men in this area. Germans Claim Trap Broken. Enemy sources maintain that the Germans escaped - from the Kanev pocket. Today’s German communique claims that contact has been re-established with the German forces in the pocket, “most ot which is once more withiu the new German fronL” The German news agency says the rupture of -the encirclement pocket west of Cherkassy and the reunion of tjie fixsd German divisions with the bulk of General von Mannsteiu’s forces have relieved, the position on the southern front. Hallensleben, the commentator. declares that the German rectification of the tout lines has so worn down the. enemy that stabilization of the entire German front is imminent. On the other hand, Moscow radio hourly today broadcast detailed reports in German to Germany,' giving the names and numbers of regiments destroyed at Kanqv, The radio said that the Red Army, penetrating the circle from all sides, found freshly-dug graves filled with Germans who had obeyed Herr Hitler s mad order to commit suicide rather than surrender. „ : . , The erasure of the Kanev trap is believed to have released 25 Russian divisions, which will now be wheeled southward against win Manustein's already disconcerted forces.; which were forced to retreat from Nikopol, says the Associated Press. The Russian High Command has probably waited for the extermination of the trap before, launching a full-scale asasult against Krivoi Rog. Berlin radio today admitted that the Russians have breached points in the main German battle area south-west ot Krivoi Rog. It said that in the past few days they concentrated numerous tank and rifle detachments in the Krivoi Rog area, revealing the intention of annihilating the Germans by a major pincers movement. The Germans, after prolonged and bitter fighting, beat back the attacks, the radio claimed.

FALSE NEWS FOR GERMANS

Second Time In A Month (British Official Wireless.) (Received February 20, S p.m.) RUGBY, February 19. The German statement this morning I hat the “Eighth Army in Russia has broken out and rejoined rhe German troops” is regarded by military observers in London as the “best, for some time.” It is the second occasion in the past month in which the Germans have completely falsified news in a hign command communique (the first was on the occasion of the so-called 900 bomber raids on London), and it. shows that they are no longer sure of the reactions of the civil population. GERMAN GENERAL AMONG SLAIN (Received February 20. 8 p.m.) LONDON. February 19. A special Soviet says that durinc.ihe liquidation of a German encircled army group in the region of Korsun (in the Kanev pocket) the body of Artillery General Wilhelm Soemmcrmann, commander of the group, was found among the dead.