TRIPLE DRIVE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 125, 22 February 1944, Page 5

TRIPLE DRIVE

Russians Racing For Pskov AIR SUPERIORITY (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) LONDON, February 20. Three Red Army columns, one of which has been released by the fall of Staraya Russa, are racing toward Pskov, the key to the Baltic States, says the British United Press Moscow correspondent. The first column is pushing down the east shore of Lake Peipus, the second is half-way from Luga to Pskov in one of the most rapid advances of the winter, the third is approaching Pskov along the railway from Staraya Russa. There is no indication so far that the Germans intend to turn and to fight before reaching the defences of Pskov, which is vital to the Russians for the extension of the war into the Baltic btates. It is the only big German supply defence point on the borders of Estonia and northern Latvia. A correspondent says that once the city falls the Germans face a decision, to evacuate Estonia or the chance of being trapped. The great Red Air Porce attack against Pskov yesterday was aimed against German reinforcements of guns, tanks and men being rushed up for the city’s defence. The Germans are still digging corpses out of the military trains destroyed and the Red Air Force te continuing to bomb the traffic-jammed line leading to Pskov. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the Russian air superiority is so marked on the northern front that observation balloons similar to those used in the last war are now hoisted in order to direct massed Red Army artillery, fire against the strong German positions. Russian fighters constantly protect the balloons. Russian Guerrillas. . Blizzards raging in the Ukraine are giving guerrillas ideal conditions for increasing the discomfiture of General von Mannstein’s shattered troops, which are hastening to re-form in order to meet General Koniev’s expected thrust. r After the liquidation of the Kanev pocket, thousands of enemy dead and masses of equipment are hidden under a white carpet: only the black barrels of the guns still show. Apart from, the mopping up of frost-bitten and emaciated stragglers, the Kanev trap has become the Kanev cemetery. The only German bodies visible are those on the roofs of houses, from which men fanatically tried to make a last stand".

The body of General Stemnicrman was found in the snow.

Tonight’s Soviet communique says: “The Russians south-west and south of Luga occupied a number of inhabited places, including Zapolye, 25 miles south of Luga, and f Svad, 55 miles north-east of Pskov. Also, south-west of Novgorod they captured Utorgosh, 32 miles north of Dno on the main Leningrad-Vitebsk railway. The Russians also captured a number of inhabited places, including Myedvyed, 10 miles east of Utorgosh. “The Red Army south of Lake Ilmen captured more than 100 places, including two railway stations.”

PRECARIOUS PLIGHT Finland’s Need Of Speedy Peace LOiNDQN, February 20. If Finland hopes for a tolerable peace she must make up her mind to prompt capitulation. This is the opinion of military and diplomatic commentators of the London newspapers. They say that the Soviet victories on the Leningrad front and the Russian drive toward the Baltic, followed by the heavy bombing of Helsinki, have emphasized the honelessness of Finland’s position. Finland’s population has been divided and has become half-hearted in the war. The Finns have done little active fighting since receiving back the territory which Finland lost to 'Russia in 1040. The pro-German element in the Government is still strong, however. The commentators stress the precariousuess of Finland’s situation. Apart from her inability to resist Russian at tack the country cannot much longer rely on the Germans’ ability to supply it with food. The military effect of Finland’s capitulation would be to mark the beginning of the closing of the ring round Germany and would cause considerable depression iu Germany and stimulate further unrest among Germany’s remaining satellites.

KONIEV NOW MARSHAL (British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, February 20. General Ivan Stephanovich Koniev, commander on the Second Ukrainian Front, who directed the annihilation of the Germans encircled in the Korsun area, has been made a Marshal of the Soviet Union.