SMASHED BY REDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 66, 15 September 1943, Page 5

SMASHED BY REDS

GERMAN DEFENCE PLAN

. DESNA RIVER LINE LOST (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 14. The Red Army is following up its victory at Bryansk and is now widening its bridgeheads on the western bank of the Desna River,, the great water barrier on which the • Germans hoped to build a defence line from Smolensk to Kiev. South of Bryansk, converging Russian columns are making forced marches and fighting incessantly towards Roslavl. The capture of Roslavl would cut one escape railway to Smolensk.

Correspondents say three major battles are being fought between Bryansk and Dnepropetrovsk. The first is for Nezhin, the second is for Priluki, and the third for the reduction of the German salient south-west 6f Kharkov and covering Poltava. The capture of Nezhin and Priluki would give the Russians the keys to the Kiev outposts. Nezhin is being invested from north and east, and is already under shellfire. Stiff German resistance around Romny is holding up the drive against Priluki. The Russians are investing Romny from three sides and are closing iii from the east and along the railway from the north and south. The Germans' defences south-west of Kharkov, after weeks of steady hammering, arc beginning to crumble. The toughness of the fighting can be, gauged

from the fact that battles still continue to rage only 25 miles west of Kharkov. Reuters Moscow correspondent says that the Russian success in forcing the Desna River dealt a heavy blow against the entire German defence system. It now appears that the German "elastic defence" will have to be more elastic than ever. The elastic defence has proved completely unsuccessful in the south, where the Germans are falling back upon the Dnieper bend. "Red Star' states the Germans are rapidly retreating towards the Dnieper bend across the Dnepropetrovsk steppe, and that the Russians have reached Sanzharovsky, less than 60 miles from Zaporozhe.

CONTACT MAINTAINED,

The Germans retreating in the Dnieper Bend are trying hard to break contact, but the Russian pursuit continues relentlessly.

Berlin radio said that the Russians advanced cautiously against Bryansk, which was covered only by rearguards. All goods and machinery were evacuated a fortnight ago, and "the installations were so thoroughly destroyed that the Russians put their hand into an empty pocket." "This shows that the Germans are pursuing the aim of drawing the Russians after' them' in a large disengagement . movement," the radio said. "They are doing so faster than the Rust sians may like." The London "Times" comments: "The last word on the German retreat may not rest with the Germans." German sources, shortly after the announcement of the evacuation, of Bryansk, said that the Russians opened a new attack north of the city with strong artillery and tank forces and claimed that the attacks failed before extremely stiff resistance. The Germans said the Russians were attacking along the Roslavl-Moscow and Smolensk-Moscow highways. They admitted their retreat in the Smolensk area but added that local breaches elsewhere were evened out by straightening the German line.