NEW CLIMAX EXPECTED BENES BACK IN LONDON

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 5, 7 January 1944, Page 5

NEW CLIMAX EXPECTED

BENES BACK IN LONDON

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 9.a.m. ' LONDON, January 6. General Vatutin is firmly astride of the big-Kiev salient and punching1 hard against the retreating- Germans, declares Reuter's Moscow correspondent. Operations are rapidly moving to a new climax for the Germans at the north-western end of the Dnieper line. The Russians are increasingly threatening Kanev, which is. the Germans' only remaining hold on the right bank of the middle Dnieper. The fall of Berdichev, after five days of fighting of extreme ferocity between large forces on both sides, is hailed by the Soviet Press as a major victory. It splits open the German defences protecting' the approaches to the River Bug" and the Odessa-Rovno-Vilna railway. A Russian spearhead is already 15 miles north-east of Shepetovka. The Germans below Belaya Tserkov have big forces, but the Russians have wedged into their lines in many places.

They are nearly 40 miles south of Belaya Tserkov and have reached points due east of Vinnitsa. Moscow radio says the capture of Berdichev was achieved by a swift manoeuvre which cut up the German defences and threatened the Nazis with outflanking. The Germans, supported by large tank reinforcements from other sectors, attempted to hold the" town despite huge losses, but began to lose their nerve when the Russians cut the railway south of the town and captured a position six miles north-west of Berdichev.

step backwards loosens the Germans' hold on the Ukrainian railways and lessens the enemy's ability to manoeuvre troops to meet the Russian thrusts. The Red Army, on the other hand, depends much less on railway communications. The Russians are accustomed to using other methods ol transport.

Battles soon developed on the outskirts of the town. The Germans increased their resistance and counterattacked several times daily, but lost heavily and were compelled to roll back. The Russians broke into the suburbs and after street fighting the town was taken by assault. Prisoners and booty were captured. Vichy radio, in an unusually outspoken report on the Eastern Front, said: "It seems that Vatutin's offensive is forcing the Germans to give up the entire territory south of the Dnieper. Vatiitin, besides using more than 1,000,000 men, has considerable reserves which have not yet been in action."

NEW SOVIET ATTACK. A new Russian offensive in the Propoisk area of White Russia, 120 miles south of Vitebsk, is reported by Berlin radio. The attack is designed to smash the German bridgehead east of the Dnieper, says the radio. The Russians, after using fog shells and putting up a heavy barrage, attacked with big forces, first westwards, then northwards. Fierce battles are going on. The Russian armies are exploiting to the full the capture of Belaya Tserkov and Berdichev, and are pressing forward hot on the heels of the retreat-. ing enemy. The Germans, flung out of their two main bastions in this area, are facing a grave situation.

"ELASTIC DEFENCE." The military correspondent of the German overseas news agency has again been speaking of "elastic defence," the phrase the Germans used to describe their retreats last year. He said: "This means that developments will probably take place during the winter similar to those witnessed in the summer and autumn. German military circles, though calm, do not underrate the difficulty of their task."

Already the Germans, in their communiques, speak of a resumption of Russian attacks with powerful formations of, infantry and tanks in the Dnieper bend near Krivoi Rog and Kirovdgrad. Further west, the Red« Army is striking from Belaya Tserkov towards the .Cherkasi bridgehead north of Kirovograd. Up on the Baltic front the Russians are now making good progress north of Neyel, where they are closing in on the junction of the Moscow-Riga railway with a line running up to Leningrad.