NOW WORKED OUT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 148, 20 December 1943, Page 5

NOW WORKED OUT

NAZI COUNTER-OFFENSIVE

RUGBY, December 18,

Military observers in London consider that yon Mannstein's counteroffensive west of Kiev has worked itself out, and further serious progress in that area need not be feared; While the Smela and Kirovograd areas continue to hold great interest, it is thought that the fighting of greatest intensity is now in progress far to the north on the Velikie Lulu and Nevel sector. Here the Russians seem to be making progress.

Regarding the expectations of a great Russian winter offensive, it is pointed out that the time is scarcely ripe for this while the frost alternates with thaw, particularly in the more southerly areas. A gradual settlement in the weather,, however, is shown by increased air activity.

The first ice is floating down the Dnieper, states a message to "Pravda" from Konsomolskaya, and the river is expected to freeze over by the end of December.-

The Red Army will still have to rely on bridges for the heaviest traffic, as the Dnieper ice attains a maximum thickness of only about 20 inches, which is insufficient to support large tanks and mobile guns.

Hundreds of lorries loaded with Dnieper sand were out yesterday sprinkling roads on the Red Army front, which are now glazed with ice.