NEW OFFENSIVE

Evening Star, Issue 25068, 8 January 1944, Page 5

NEW OFFENSIVE

UNLEASHED IN DNIEPER BEND TRAP CLOSING ON GERMAN FORCES (Rec. 11 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 7. A new Russian offensive at the northern end of the Dnieper Bend is reported over Axis-controlled radio stations. According to Vichy radio the new Russian offensive which had been expected in the Cherkasy region has been unleashed in the Kirovograd and Krivpi Rog sectors, • obviously aimed at forcing the Germans to evacuate the great Dnieper Bend. The radio broadcast a late despatch from Berlin claiming that the greatest tank battle of the war had just concluded north of Krivoi Rog with a defensive German success. Heavy fighting, is going on in the Vitebsk aTea in addition to the entire Dnieper Bend. The centre of gravity of _ the fighting is the area west of Jitomir. The Moscow , newspaper ' Pravda ' aa.vs the most important result of General .Vatiitin's, Kiev,offensive, has, been the rout of crack German tank divisions, including the Hermann Goering and. Das Reich .divisions. This is particularly significant as these divisions are admitted to comprise only real Germans—genuine Nazis trained in murder and taught to hold out in the darkest hour. Their losses we're so huge that only sis to eight men remained in some companies. A front-line correspondent, in a despatch to the newspaper ' Izvestia,' says: " I have not seen a singte position, road, trench, or foot of soil in the path of our troops advancing beyond Jitomir and Berdichev that does not hear traces of our shells. The voice of war can be heard everywhere as ever-growing columns of Russian guns and infantry march down the roads." East of Byelaya Tserkov, where the Red army has forced the Germans back towards the Dnieper, states a Moscow ' message, the trap is being closed, but • the enemy is not surrendering "at a single point without a fight and has launched hitter counter-attacks 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 Neval. NEVAL SECTOR. Neval becomes an important, base for a general offensive Into tihe Baltic regions.- .A few days ago Neval was still under the fire of German artillery which interfered with military, traffic across the bridge in the northern suburbs but is now well outside the range of enemy guns. While the Soviet fortress at Neval has grown stronger the German rival . fortress at Novshepgeso Sokdlniki 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 to-day says the Ukraine is once more producing oil for the Red army and the first four wells have been restored at Romny, in the province of Sumy.