BATTLES IN RUSSIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 November 1943, Page 5

BATTLES IN RUSSIA

CUTTING GERMAN RETREATS

ENEMY TANK LOSSES HEAVY

LONDON, Nov. 16. Russian forces on the Ukiaine front are reported to be moving south from Jitomir heading for the upper Bug and the tangle of roads and railways serving the German forces m the Dnieper Bend. Heavy battles are racing as the Germans throw m all their available tank and motorised forces on a front extending southeast from Jitomir. Big issues aieat stake, and the Germans are suffering heavy tank losses in an effoi t to keep open their corridor to , westOther Russian forces aie tanning out from Jitomir in a way that must influence the battle for Korosten aO miles to the north. Russian advanced forces approaching Korosten irom the south-east must now be near the outskirts of the town. The Germans continue to put out reports ol a Russian offensive in the Krivoi Rog aiea, inside the Dnieper Bend. The Germans admit some Russian progress. A new Russian advance south-west of Gomel has cut the mam railway and motor road from Gomel to the west. The Russians have occupied the railway station of Demichi, miles west of Ryezhitsa and oO miles south-west of Gomel. The Moscow radio reports that 3000 Germans were killed in the fighting loi Demichi. The Russians captured a considerable number of prisoners, o 9 guns, nine ammunition dumps, 27 tanks, and 477 lorries. The capture of Demechi means that the German garrison at Gomel is no longer able to escape westwards, but only to the north-west along the Gomel-Minsk A German communique admits the Russians have penetrated German positions south-west of Gomel. To-night’s Soviet communique reports that the Russians in the Korosten direction captured the district centre of Kaganovich!, which is twenty-eight miles north-easi ol Korosten, and over forty other inhabited localities. West of Fastov and south-east of Jitomir, the Russians repelled counter-attacks from laige forces of enemy tanks and infantry. The Russians south and south-west of Ryechitsa, broke enemy resistance and captured fourteen heavily fortified strongpoints and the railwaystation at Demichi eight miles west ol Ryechitso. The capture of _ Demichi severs the Gomel-Kalinkovichi railway and motor-road. Gomel will probably not be completely deprived of railway communication by the Russian drive from the south across the mam route west of Ryechitsa, since another railway running north-west to Zhalobin and Bobruisk may still be available to them, but the simultaneous advance on the north and south Pripet Marshes threatens the German position along the Dnieper in between. The Russians are evidently aiming at Korosten and Ovruch’ on the main line between Korosten and Mozyr. If they capture Ovrush, from which they are only fifteen to twenty miles distant, they will deprive the Germans between the Gomel area of all communications except such roads as cross that part of the Pripet Marshes. The German announcement of strong Russian attacks near Krivoi Rog may be designed to prepare the way for a withdrawal from the Dnieper end.

MASSIVE ASSAULTS

NO REST FOR GERMANS

(Recd. 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 16. The massive Russian assault against the German lines of communication is now severing the railways and highways from White Russia to the sliores of the Black Sea. The Russians are leaving the Germans fewer and fewer lines lor the transfer of reserves to reinforce vital points or lor withdrawals of men and . material. The capture of the Demichi railway station is a bitter blow against the enemy, who until three days ago were using' the line for getting troops and supplies into Gomel. Red Army forces are now pouring into the gap smashed in the White Russia line by the break-through across Gomel’s only railway to the westward. A dispatch from the front to-night said the advance was pushing on rapidly. General Vatutin’s troops pushing north from the Kiev bulge are now ■joining with the forces which outflanked Gomel from the west, threatening to turn the entire White Russion line. This co-ordinated drive threatens to throw the Germans back to the Prlpet Marshes. The Gomel garrison is reported to be in a desperate position. Available German reserves in this region have been weakened, and losses of planes and transport vehicles have also been heavy. Vatutin’s men farther south are closing in along the 60-mile front against Korosten on the north-south railway. According to the latest reports the Russians have reacned points less than 15 miles from Korosten. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says another column is driving against the railway 25 miles north of Korosten and Ryechitsa, which is the only adequate road across the eastern end of the Pripet Marshes, also menacing the Korosten-Chernigov railway. Both lines are under lire and have already been crossed by cavalry patrols. , , . , The Red Army appears to be steadily gaining the upper hand against the German counter-attacks on the southern flank of the Kiev Bulge. The Russians have been strengthened by reinforcements brought across the Dnieper, but the German losses are beginning to tell. . The Russians in the Kerch Peninsula are strengthening their hold on the marshy, forest-dotted terrain,.The Red Army’s little ships are transporting supplies across the storm-swept straits. GERMAN GLOOM The German News Agency’s military commentator' admits a withdrawal in the Dnieper Bend. German detachments north-west of Zaporozhe withdrew at dusk yesterday to a shorter line after being attacked by Russian infantry divisions and a tank brigade, which achieved a breakthrough on a narrow sector. Captain Sartorius, Berlin commentator. said to-night that very violent fighting continues in the great battle of the Dnieper Bend, also inthe .Koro-sten-Kitornir-Fastov triangle, where the battles are fluctuating. He added that fresh Russian tank forces had been thrown in at focal points in a non-stop offensive. . . According to the Paris radio, fresh Russian attacks south-west of Dnepropetrovsk and north of Krivoi Rog, resulted in a number of breakthroughs. The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Zurich correspondent quotes Swiss reports from Berlin saying that to-day’s Press conference was the gloomiest yet held. The German spokesman explained that “the < greatest of all Russian offensives” had started in the Krivoi Rog sector. He bitterly complained that the Russians, despite miserable weather, continued large-scale attacks although it seemed incredible to employ tanks in such swampy country. The spokesman used the phrase: “The Russians aim to force a decisive victory in 1943,” but declined to express an opinion whether this was possible.