HOTIN CAPTURED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 82, 6 April 1944, Page 5

HOTIN CAPTURED

GARRISON WIPED OUT

", LONDON, April 5. The Russians have stormed the fortress town of Hotin, east of Cernauti, wiping out the garrison. In the Skala pocket north of Cernauti the trapped German force is steadily dwindling. There are believed to be considerable numbers of the enemy still there, but the whole area is under Russian artillery fire. Reuters Moscow correspondent estimates that 180,000 Germans are encircled in the pocket. This force was officially described by Moscow as the remnants of seven tank and eight other divisions.

The other encircled German. force, which is clinging to the outskirts of Tarnopol is in a hopeless position, with no airfield to receive supplies Last night's communique stated that the .Russians besieging Tarnapol had captured the greater part of the town, and in three days' fighting had killed over 3000 Germans and taken duu prisoners. The Red Army west of Dubno yesterday continued its offensive and captured over 30 places, including Buzhany, 48 miles north-east of Lvov, and four railway stations, including Gorokhov. . . Troops of the First Ukrainian Front, engaged in battles for the annihilation of the encircled Germans in the Skala area, captured several places. The enemy repeatedly tried to break out, but were repelled with heavy losses. The Russians south of Kamenets Podolsk, after three days of stubborn fighting, captured Hotin, 13 miles south of Kamenets Podolsk, across the Dniester, and wiped out the German garrison. . The Red Army on the Kichmev sector captured over 30 places, including ■ Konyrcheni, 33 miles north of Kichinev. On the Odessa sector the Russians captured over 50 places, including Vessely, on the Odessa-Lvov railway. .