NORTHERN OFFENSIVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 January 1944, Page 5

NORTHERN OFFENSIVE

RUSSIAN BREAK-THROUGH

RELIEF OF LENINGRAD

LONDON, January 19. Heavy guns at Russia’s naval base on Kronstadt Island joined m the Leningrad offensive, shelling the Germans on the mainland. The Germans have rushed up reinforcements. They are lighting fiercely lor eV The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Moscow correspondent says. The i estoration of safe communications between Leningrad and Kronstadt may be one of the first results of a Russian break-through west of Leningrad if a beachhead is successfully widened. Then traffic between Leningrad and Kronstadt could pass most of the way oyerland, instead of through the mine-in festea and shellshowered fairway from Leningrad port. The Red Air Force entered the battle on the front south of Oranienbaum. bombers vigorously attacking German fortifications. •'We are striking blow lor blow after breaking the German line south of Oranienbaum, reports Moscow “Red Star.” “The enemy is suffering heavy losses Much equipment was found abandoned in captured fortified positions. Prisoners coming in are still anc scared by the effect of. the Russian bcirrci ry e. f According to the Vicny radio the heaviest fighting is occurring north of Lake Ilmen, where the Russians on a single sector are attacking With six infantry divisions and numerous armoured units. All the Russian atz tempts to encircle Vitebsk have thus far failed. The violence of the fighting further south is undiminished, but it seems that the local point of the entire Eastern Front has shifted northwards. SEVEN DIVISIONS DEFEATED RUGBY, January 19. An order of the day, by Mr. Stalin addressed to Marshal Govorov states: Troops on the Leningrad front launched an offensive from the areas of Pulkovo and south of Oranienbaum, and broke through the strongly fortified long-prepared German defensive’ zone and in five days tense fighting advanced in each direction seven and a-half to twelve and a-half miles, and increased the breakthrough in each sector until it was 22 to 25 miles wide. As a result, troops stormed the fortress town of Krasnoyeselo. Soviet troops also occupied the stronghold of German defence and important road junction of Ropsha. In course of the offensive, Soviet troops heavily defeated seven enemy infantry divisions. Soviet troops captured a large group of enemy heavy artillery which .had systematically shelled Leningrad.

RECORD BARRAGE (Recd. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 19. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the new battle for Leningrad may prove to be the greatest battle of the war. The Russians at both ends of the 100-mile front are progressing strongly. Govorov’s men at Oranienbaum and Meretskov’s forces on the Volkhov River continue to thrust ahead. The Germans in all sectors where they have not been overwhelmed by one of the most tremendous barrages ever concentrated on a relatively narrow front are offering heavy resistance. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press describes the barrage with which the Russians broke the German fortifications southward of Leningrad as the greatest concentration of artillery ever assembled during the war. He adds that Govorov is the Red Army artillery expert who broke the Mannerheim Line in Finland. Krasny or Krasnoyeselo is on the LeningradPskov railway. Govorov, after examining tne German preparations for defending the path to the Baltic States, brought up thousands of guns, until every gun position in the enemy lines sooth of Oranienbaum was covered by ;i Rod Army battery. Long-range mins further back were set to cover the German long-range batteries. Other Red Army batteries were emplaced to deal with the enemy’s series of hedge-hog positions, while others controlled paths through the enemy lines, along which the Russian infantry would have to penetrate. Every artillery lesson learned in more than two years was used. A front-line reporter, describing the opening of the barrage, said that when the "Russian guns spoke, the earth boiled for several miles. The earth rose up under the shells like fountains. Enemy gun positions flew into the- sky, and their minefields exploded. Nothing could withstand the Russian fire.

CITIZENS’ THANKS

(Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, January 19

Hundreds of prisoners are coming in dazed by the unparalleled fury of the bombardment. They could not speak and trembled for hours afterwards. Red Army infantry sprang into breaches and after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war cleared a path for the armour. Citizens of Leningrad, after months of intermittent shelling from the German long-range guns, broadcast thanks to the Red Army over the Leningrad radio for the recapture of Krasny Ropsha. One woman said: “Leningrad mothers thank you for avenging the blood of our children. Forward to complete destruction of the bestial enemy.”

LATEST CAPTURES.

LONDON, January 19. Reuter's Moscow correspondent says that the Russian infantry was forced to fight through the deepest and strongest defences ever erected in any part of the Russian-German front.' The approaches to the German lines at many points were guarded by 10 successive lines of barbed wire entanglements, the space between each line being sown with mines. • x A Moscow communique says that, more than 80 inhabited places were captured in the Krasny and Ropsha areas. Ropsha is 10 miles west of Krasny. The Red Army, advancing south of Oranienbaum, captured Peterhof, 10 miles north-east of Krasny. Troops on the Volkhov front,, under Merctskov, north of Novgorod in five days advanced 18 miles and extended the breach 30 miles. They captured several railway stations, including Vitka, thereby cutting the Novgorod-Leningrad railway. "The Russians south of Novgorod forced the upper tip of Lake Ilmen, occupied several inhabited places and cut the railway and highway between Novgorod and Shimskaya, 32 miles south-west of Novgorod on the western tip of Lake Ilmen. The Red Army north of Sokolniki continued the offensive and occupied several inhabited places. The Russians west of Novograd Volynsk made a fighting advance and captured Goshcha, a district centre in the Rovim region, 17 miles east of Rovno. The'Red. Army north of Kristinovka repelled major tank _ and infantry counter-attacks, inflicting heavy losses.

SITUATION REVIEWED.

RUGBY, January 19

In the area of Novosokolniki. all German attempts to restore the- situation failed, Soviet troops repelling

the counter-attacks with heavy losses to the enemy, says the Moscow radio, which underlines the great part played by the Soviet ski detachments, which in several instances penetrated the enemy rear, occupied strongholds, then held them successfully against repeated counter-attacks. The i eport adds: Fighting in this area is continuing with unabated fury. The restoration of safe communication between Leningrad and Kronstadt will be one of the first results O’’ the Russian offensive southward of Oranienbaum, if it progresses sufficiently. For over two years, traffic between Leningrad and the unconquered base has been by the perilous waters of the Gulf of Finland. It is too early to judge what weight is behind the simultaneous Russian offensives westward and southward of Leningrad. Both appear to have broken into the crust of long-standing defences in this area, but the defences are likely to have been built to a great depth. The same applies to the position around Novosokolniki, where the Russians have been gradually wearing down enemy positions at a crucial point in the northern front. In the south the Germans achieved a 'rather precarious stability all the way from near Shepetovka to, the Black Sea, while at the western end of the Ukrainian frint the Russians are still pushing on. Shepetovka is in danger of being outflanked from the west and the still more important centre of Rovno is only a few miles from the front. Thus the extreme western front of the Russian advance across the Pri-pet-Rovno-Lwow line is being broadened and at the same time the threat to the South Ukraine is increasing. The German counter-offensive apparently failed to dislodge the Russians either from the railway northward of Uman or from the neighbourhood of Vinnitsa. Meanwhile, the Germans announce renewed Russian pressure near Kirovograd. One Moscow correspondent says the new offensive is a preparation for the final liberation of Leningrad from the partial blockade and artillery bombardments. The offensive south of Oranienbaum from the Soviet’s Baltic beachhead, 16 miles west of Leningrad, also threatens the main railway south-west to Pskov.

SUPPLIES FROM U.S.A.

WASHINGTON, January 18.

The Foreign Economic Administration disclosed that American lendlease aid to Russia is keeping pace with the rising tempo of the Red Army’s advance. In November, 338 million dollars worth of goods were shipped to Russia—the largest amount sent in the history of lendlease.