RUSSIANS NEAR KIEV

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 September 1943, Page 5

RUSSIANS NEAR KIEV

FRONT FURTHER WIDENED GERMANS’ MAJOR RETREAT LONDON, Sept. 22. The Red Army yesterday broadened the line of its advance on Kiev, drove closer to the Dnieper Bena, and increased its threat to Smolensk. With the capture of the important communications centre o.t Chernigov, east-north-east of Kiev, the Russians widened their front advancing on this great base to 100 miles, and from its extreme points they may push forward outflanking attacks. They have smashed the last enemy hope of standing -firm on the west bank of the Desna, and now the Germans must pin their hopes on the Dnieper, 30 miles to the west of Chernigov. . , . The Moscow radio said this morning the Russian troops through the clear Autumn air, could see the gilt domes of the churches of Kiev shining in the sunlight. South of Kiev there is another and perhaps more immediate threat, to the Dnieper. Soviet forces were last night 15 to 20 miles away from Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhe, on the bend of the. river, and one correspondent to-day says that Cossack patrols have reached the river midway between the two cities. On the Smolensk front the Russians are within eight miles ol Roslavl, one of the most important ot Smolensk’s south-eastern defences. North-west of Smolensk the Russians are pushing down the Dvina and threatening communications to the rear. _ . . The Moscow radio says that Soviet aircraft last night, without loss, bombed the railway junctions ot Vitebsk (north-west of Smolensk), Gomel (south of Smolensk), and Jankoi (in the Crimea), scoring direct hits on several trains laden with ammunition. Soviet forces in the forest areas between Bryansk and Chernigov have freed 100,000 Soviet citizens the Germans were driving to Germany lor forced labour, and also 20,000 oh a sector of the Poltava front. » “The Germans are desperately attempting to make a stand in front of Dnepropetrovsk,” says “Red Star. ’ “The Germans are forcing thousands of peasants to dig fortifications along hits and small rivers. The nearer we approach the Dnieper, the more determined the German resistance becomes. The country is studded with villages which the Germans have converted into strongpoints. They are rushing artillery and reinforcements to the points most threatened.” Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow says that the Russians are closing in on Dnepropetrovsk from three sides. All the railways to Dnepropetrovsk from the east have been cut at comparatively short distances from the town. The Russians are advancing swiftly from Bularovka, 20 miles north-east of Dnepropetrovsk. MANY MORE CAPTURES. RUGBY, September 22. A Soviet communique states: The Russians took Oster, Peroyaslav, Zotonohsa and 180 other places in the Kiev direction. North-west of Smolensk they took Demidov and 50 places. Towards Dniepropetrovsk, 90 places, including Novomoskovsk, were taken. A six to seven mile advance was made in the Poltava sector. In the Gomel direction, Pochep and Starodub were taken. The communique also announces the capture of Anapa. AXIS ADMISSIONS . LONDON? September 22. The Vichy radio stated: The Russians flung in fresh reserves in pursuing an. offensive in all sectors, especially towards Kiev. General Rokossovsky, in an advance on Kiev, is using the Desna Valley, which has been crossed at several points. Paris radio said: “Huge Russian armies, supported by tanks and planes, are attacking German positions along both sides of the RoslavlSmolensk road. German covering forces in the southern sector are engaging Russian forces who are trying to prevent the German retreat.” A German military spokesman, receiving foreign Press representatives in Berlin yesterday, admitted that the German withdrawal in Russia was now a “large-scale retreat.” He said it was caused by a shortage of reserves and by the Allied landings in Italy.

POLTAVA’S CAPTURE SOON (Recd. 2 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 22. To-night’s Russian communique reveals that a swift new Russian drive is apparently intended to outflank Kiev from the south. Tiie capture of Oster Peresslavl, and Solotonosa forty-five miles south-east of Kiev and eight miles south-east of Kiev respectively, brings the Red Army within eight miles of the Dneiper River on a forty miles front. The communique also reveals striking advances in the Gomel sector, where the Russians are moving westward over a broad front north and south of the Bryansk-Gomel railway. Reuter’s correspondent says the increased threat to Gomel brings the battle for the liberation of White Russia into the active stage. The Red Army, with the Dnieper within its grasp at several points, its pincer movement against Smolensk and the outflanking movements against Kiev developing dangerously, is also giving serious attention to the elimination of Poltava, which at present is the most pronounced bulge in the German defence line. The British United Press Moscow correspondent says the German defences at Poltava are finally cracking. General Konev’s troops fought a way into the outskirts of the great railway junction of Poltava. The Germans have clung to Poltava for at least six weeks at great cost. They have been using Poltava as a clearing house for their troops from (he Donetz, moving them back along' the Poltava-Remenchug line. A Red Army column south-east of Poltava are astride the Poltava-Krasnograd railway, and at some points are only twelve miles from Poltava. The correspondent points out that if the Russians now strike westward, they can cut the Poltava-Kremendhug line, thereby trapping all the German forces in Poltava itself. STALIN'S MESSAGE TO U.S.A. (Rec. 11 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 22. A Washington message says that Mr. Stalin in an unprecedented message to the American people read at a war loan ceremony, outlined the Soviet’s effort to drive the Germans from Russian soil, and appealed to the American people to support the war loan, thereby promoting the growth of Allied military might. Stalin’s ‘message said that more than 50u divisions were engaged on the Eastern Front fighting. The Russians were successfully employing planes, tanks, guns, and -other munitions received from Britain and America.