CAPTURE OF PSKOV

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1944, Page 5

CAPTURE OF PSKOV

FORECAST BY RUSSIANS

(By Telegraph—Press Associatipii-^-Copyright.) Kee. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, J 9 n. 20. So irresistible is the new Russian offensive that Moscow officials, although renowned for their conservatism, are forecasting the imminent capture of Pskov, despite the fact thai it is .120 miles away, says the British Vn^ed Press Moscow correspondent. me Russian victory south of Leningrad, continues' the correspondent, is overwhelming. The eptire enemy forces between Krasny and the £vga River are facing the imminent risk-of encirclement. I Endless columns of Red: Army tanks and infantry are inexorably pressing /on across the shell-pocked-,country ' through gaps which the. tremendous barrage originally blasted. Once through the gaps the tanks are fanning; out in every direction, conjuring up the prospect that the three-year-old threat to Leningrad will be finally It is unofficially estimated in Moscow that 300,000 German troops are facing disaster as the result of the Russian advances between Leningrad and Novgorod. , The Columbia Broadcasting System s Moscow correspondent says that the offensive is one of the greatest yet, •while the National Broadcasting uonv pany's representative says that the new offensive has power and promise equal to anything during the war. Reuters Moscow correspondent says that the Russians surrounded ja large German group near Peterhof. The latest reports state that the narrow bridgehead between Oranienbaum and Leningrad has been cut off from the main German fortress and is being rapidly mopped up. . Paris radio says a terrific battle is raging along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. The latest reports from Berlan state that the Russian pressure is extremely lively and has increased during the last 24 hours. Berlin radio says that an unending stream of Russian forces is pouring into the front line south of Leningrad. The Exchange Telegraph Company's Stockholm correspondent says that a report from Berlin states that under pressure from superior Russian forces the Germans were forced to withdraw several" miles from their positions north of Lake Ilmen.