NEW RED OFFENSIVE

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

NEW RED OFFENSIVE

REPORTS FROM AXIS Rec. 9 a.m. LONDON, January 7. A new Russian offensive at the northern end of the Dnieper bend is reported over Axis-controlled radio stations. According to Vichy radio, an offensive which had been expected in the Cherkasi region has been unleashed in the Kirovograd and Krivoi Rog sectors, and is obviously aimed at forcing the Germans to evacuate the great Dnieper bend. The radio broadcast a late dispatch from Berlin claiming that the greatest tank battle of the war had just concluded north of Krivoi Rog with a defensive German success.

both torpedoes and 10001b bombs. One Allied plane was lost and others damaged. Other Japanese shipping has been attacked by Beaufighters at Koepang, Timor, where a schooner, loaded with troops, was left burning on Tuesday. FIGHTING ON LAND. In land fighting of increasing fury American marines on Cape Gloucester have slaughtered a further 600 Japanese in an all-day battle in the Borgen Bay area. The total of enemy killed counted at Cape Gloucester since the * marines landed on December 26 is now nearly 2000, but the actual number of Japanese casualties may have been four times that figure. In their present push to drive enemy troops back from their Borgen Bay strongholds, the marines have strong artillery and tank as well as direct air support. The Japanese, whose strength is believed to have come from the interior, where the country is rugged and heavily timbered, are also making increased use of artillery. At Saidor, the northern New Guinea beachhead established by the Americans last Sunday, our patrols have made their first contact with the enemy at Cape Iris. Australians driving up Huon Peninsula 'to link up with the Americans at Saidor, about 70 miles distant, are now 12 air miles from Sio, an important enemy barge base. Fleeing Japanese troops are believed to be trying to reach Sio in ati effort to evacuate the peninsula. All their land avenues of escape have been closed. Madang, the Japanese supply base just 55 miles north-west of Saidor, and nearby Alexishafen, have been hit with 243 tons of bombs. Allied patrol torpedo boats have taken additional toll of enemy barge traffic along this coast.