REELING BACK

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1944, Page 5

REELING BACK

DEFENDING AXIS ARMIES

LONDON, December 4. Tanks and infantry columns from Marshal Tolbukhin's army are driving up the roads between the Danube and Lake Balaton, says the Moscow correspondent of tl.e Associated Press. The German and Hungarian defenders are still reeling from the impact of the Russians' swift attack.

The most westerly Russian column has struck out from captured Tamasi for the road and railway jjunction of Lepseny. The centre column has driven from positions just west of Duna Foldvar towards the rail and road hub of Szekesfehervar, and the most easterly column has also struck from Duna Foldvar towards Ratsaletsh. which is opposite the lower tip of Csepel Island (in the Danube, just below Budapest). Nowhere south of Budapest, from which the advanced Russians are under 40 miles distant, does the German High Command appear able seriously to interfere with the Russian advance. The Red Army's right flank is pressing closer to'the Russians on Csepeflsland, and -when contact is established the weight of this new force will be added to the siege of Budapest. In northern Hungary the Russians are iollowmg up the capture of Miskolcz and Satoralja Ujnely with a drive towards eastern and central Slovakia. Miskol'cz gives the Russians a new gateway to central Slovakia. Analysing the Red Army's tactics, "Pravda" says that mobile units, after smashing through the defence lines fan out behind the enemy lines against a number of objectives. "Pravda" adds: '."The. tempo of our offensive is not slackening."