BITTEN IN DEEPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 5, 8 January 1944, Page 5

BITTEN IN DEEPLY

ADVANCE INTO POLAND

(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.) Rec. 12^35 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 7. The Red Army has bitten in deeply and fully established, its position in Poland. Vatutin's forces, along an 80----mile front from a point beyond Rokitno to Polonnoye, 50 miles north-west of Berdichev, are accelerating their advance towards the Polish Ukraine and closing' in on Sarny, and Rovno. The British United Press Moscow correspondent, declares that the whole German frontier defences as far southwestwards as Ostrog and nearly 80 miles from the original Russian breakthrough west of Olevsk, are crumbling under the Russian blows. He adds that there is little doubt that Vatutin is approaching a stage of the campaign where he hopes to. deliver decisive' strategic blows. A Reuter correspondent says that according to front-line reports Vatutin's army is .advancing like an avalanche. The spearhead which captured Rokitno is now approaching Sarny. The Germans are retreating hurried--ly towards Shepetovka. POISED FOR BATTLE. A German military spokesman said that the German and Russian armies were poised for decisive battles. "It is undeniable that the German armies are experiencing serious strain," he said. "We make no attempt to disguise the fact that we have suffered reverses in these gigantic winter battles." i ' One German spokesman is quoted by the Stockholm "Svenska Morgenbladet's"'Berlin correspondent as saying that there is a possibility that the Germany army will be forced to withdraw entirely from Russia in.the face of what appears to be a giant Russian offensive along the entire front from Leningrad to the Black Sea. The correspondent adds: "But the Napis over-emphasised their difficulties sometimes, so that if they achieve a successful counter-stroke they can claim it was accomplished against overwhelming odds." APPROACH TO SARNY. The British United Press reports that one of Vatutin's columns is moving west from Rokitno and already is within 25 miles of Sarny, where the railways from Leningrad, Rigo, Warsaw, and Vilna converge. Other parts of the force mopped up 30 miles of the Korosten-Sarny railway as far as Gorodnitsa. Vatutin, meanwhile, is consolidating the Red Army's advance into the Ukraine behind the spearhead piercing Poland. The Russians in the Ukraine are maintaining three main drives. Firstly, they, are pushing on along the railway from Berdichev to Shepetovka, which is the key position for a direct drive against Rovno. Secondly, they are thrusting towards Vinnitsa and Zhmerinka, which are keys to the Germans' supply system in the area they still hold in south Russia. Thirdly, they are curling back from Belaya Tserkoy, south-eastwards towards the Gherkasi region, where ten German divisions on the west bank of the Dnieper, if they hold their ground, run a grave risk of encirclement. HOPELESSLY BROKEN. The enemy's Ukraine defences are. now hopelessly broken. The Germans are suffering huge losses, and, illequipped to fight a winter campaign, are falling back along a 200-mile front. The magnitude of the German losses is more and more apparent, with every mile of the Russian advance. The enemy's armoured forces are suffer-, ing terrible blows. In none of its offensives so far has the Red Army possessed, in its immediate rear, such a good network of communications as it has gained in the Ukraine, where, in the capricious winter, cross-country operations are highly dangej-ous, says "The Times" Moscow correspondent. The Red Army is still benefiting from what apparently was a major German blunder—a concentration of its armour at Zhitomir and the subsequent retreat westwards away from the southern sectors where so much was now . needed. Reuters correspondent says that he has not yet met a Russian who can remember such freak weather, with days of thaw in January which is generally the middle of the severe Winter, but it is an ill wind that blows nobody good. The thaw is revealing land mines which the Germans had hidden under the snow, making the work of the Red Army sappers easier. The German news agency's commentator yon Hammer stated that the resumed Russian attacks against Kirovograd had forced the Germans to withdraw .in the south-eastern sector from positions on the west bank of the Ingul River, and also between Berdichev and the Teterey River. The German formations retired to prepared Jjositions in order to escape an incessant hail of fire, thereby abandoning Panushpol. NAZI LINE BROKEN. A new offensive in which the Ger3nan defences in the Kirovograd sector were broken and the capture of 6 place only 12 miles from Sarny are announced in the Soviet night communique. It says: "Troops of the First Ukrainian Front captured Klesov, a district centre in the Rovno region, 26 miles west of the 1939 Polish border

and has launched bitter counterattacks with strong forces of tanks and caterpillars. The Germans seem willing to sacrifice troops in this way, possibly in the hope of gaining time for operations at Nevel. Nevel has become an important base for a general offensive into the Baltic regions. A few days ago it was still under fire from German artillery, which interfered with military traffic across the bridge in the northI crn suburbs. While the Soviet fortress of Nevel grew stronger the German rival fortress of Sokolniki has become weaker. Besides advancing against Sokolniki from the south, the Russians are also moving forward on a wide front towards the railway between, that town and Pustoshka. An announcement today says that the Ukraine is once more producing oil for the Red Army, and the first four wells have been restored at Romny.— 8.0. W.