RUSSIAN OFFENSIVES

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 March 1944, Page 5

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVES

MORE GAINS REPORTED SOUTHERN RAILWAY CUT LONDON, March 22. The Russians are less than 30 miles from the river Pruth—the border of Rumania proper—say messages from Moscow. They have cut the CernautiRibnitsa railway, leaving the. Germans with only the Odessa-lasy line to serve their troops remaining in the southern Ukraine. Balti is under threat from two Russian drives coming in from the east and the north. In Poland the threat to Lwow is increasing. The Russians are maintaining pressure on Brodi and along the Rowno-Lwow rnilwsy cifter the capture of Radziwill, and one Russian column has swung round Brody to attack from the south. On the lower Bug the Russians are only a few miles from Pervomaisk and Voznesensk. Tuesday night’s Soviet communique said: “The Russians south-west of Dubno, continuing their offensive, captured the town of Verba, on the Rowno-Lwow railway, 25 miles north ea«t of Brody, also Podkamen, on the west bank of the Sevetk river, 58 miles east of Lwow, and 60 other Russians west and south-west of Vinnitsa occupied more than 50 localities, including the railway stations of Brilov, seven miles northeast of Zhimerinka, and Mateikoyo, eight miles west of Zhmerinka. Troops south of Zhmerinka occupied the towns of Shargorod and Kopaigorod, which are respectively 19 miles north-east and 29 miles north of Mogilev Podolosk, and 80 other locahie“South of Mogilev Podolsk the Russians continued successful operations for the extension of the bridgeheads on the west bank ol the Dniester. They occupied Ataki, which is a regional centre of the Moldavian Soviet Republic, and 40 other inhabited localities. The Russians cut the railway line from Cernauti to Balti. “South-west of Novo Ukrainka the Russians captured in the Odessa region the district centres of Bladodatnaya and Arbuzinka, both in the area of Percomaisk, and more than 50 other inhabited localities. The troops south-west of Bobrinets occupied 40 localities.” NEW DRIVES PREPARING LONDON, March 22. More than one million men are massing for a new Red Army offensive in North Russia as General Koniev’s forces in the south continue an all-out drive lor Rumania proper. A German High Command spokesman, quoted by the Stockholm “Dagens Nyneter,” says: More than 100 “Russian divisions are concentrated on the northern front, where, a new offensive is expected to begin hourly. . . General von Mannstein is still fighting desperately to stave off a growing danger to Jassy, reports Reuter s Moscow correspondent, General Koniev already has a stretch of the Odessa-Jassy railway under gunfire, and his forces now are under 25 miles from the Rumanian border. Stiffened German resistance is not holding up the advance. Battered German regiments are flooding into Rumania. The German News Agency states: The German disengaging movements in the * south-western part of the front may be considered to have now concluded, with the exception of a few sectors which are still in vigorous movement. The Russian advance between the Middle Bug and the Dniester has been considerably slowed: down. Strong Luftwaffe formations' continue to hammer Russian. columns. Obviously the Russians here are regrouping and bringing up fresh supplies and reserves. A Russian supplementary communique says: South-west of Dubno the enemy has been reinforced with the 361st' Division from Denmark. The enemy counter-attacked several times. All attacks were repelled and our troops, forging ahead, occupied Verba. PER.VOMATSK CAPTURED. RUGBY, March 22. The Russians have captured Pervomaisk, an important railway junction and strongpoint in the German defences on the middle reaches of the River Bug. This has been announced by Mr. Stalin in an order of the day addressed to the Commander of the Second Ukrainian Front. Pervomaisk was evacuated by the Soviet on August 15, 1941. Railway lines lead from it to Odessa and Barta, and from there into Rumania. The old name of this town was 01vipol. and on many maps it is still found under this name. * IMPORTANCE OF CAPTURE. GERMAN DEFENCES COLLAPSING (Rec. 1.5) . LONDON, March 22. The capture of Pervomaisk means that the last German hedgehog east of the lower Bug has fallen. The collapse of the Pervomaisk area, says the British United Press, will result in the Russians flooding down against Nikolayev and Odessa. The Berlin radio, 10-night, admits that the Russians reached the Bug north-west of Pervomaisk. The British United Press adds that the elimination of Pervomaisk leaves the Germans with a remaining bridgehead of about 68 miles on the east bank of the Bug River. Pervomaisk was the rail junction of the lines loading to Odessa and Balti. The cutting of the Balti-Cernauti railway yesterday is regarded in Moscow as of 'the greatest significance. The- conservative Red Army newspaper “Red Star” calls it “a. very great achievement,'' because it was carried out against now full-strength units which wore brought up to stem the Russian thrust. The severance of the railway means that over half the distance between the Dniester and the Pruth rivers is covered, and with the paralysis of the enemy’s last good lateral communication line in Bessarabia goes, his last glimmer of hope of prolonging the fighting east of the Pruth River. Cossacks are within a day’s ride of the Pruth, and the leading Red Army columns are only 20 miles from th * river.

Pervomaisk, with Nikolayev, constituted the main German outer fortress covering Odessa, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The fall of Pervomaisk threatens to trap 100,000 Germans between the Bug and Odessa. Twelve German divisions in this area are now threatened on both flanks. A Red Army officer, who has flown back from the Dniester front, has riven a picture of the scene. He stated that Koniev’s mobile spearheads are strongpoints from the rear. Two Rumanian infantry divisions were sent in against the first Red Army units which crossed, tire Dniesto". The Russians threw them back. •“The panic which seized the Rumanian authorities in Bessarabia evidently communicated itself to the troops.” “The Times’s” Moscow correspondent says there are indications that enemy resistance is stiffening both in Moldavia and the western Ukraine. Well-gunned German units supported bv the Luftwaffe met the Russians who crossed the Dniester, and yesterday the enemv launched sharp coun-ter-attacks. The Russians are advancing through country where there is abounding evidence of the Rumanians’ exuloitation. The Russians are seeing the stark effects of Rumanian occupation across the Dniester. The re-occupation disclosed deportation

of • manpower, and neglect of crop rotation for the immediate purpose of squeezing the maximum produce from the soil, as well as harsh colonial policy imposed in respect of education and local administration.

MORE PLACES REGAINED.

(Rec. 1.15) LONDON, March 22. To-night’s Russian communique says the Russians west and southwest of Kremenets, defeating counterattacks, continued the offensive, and captured several inhabited places; also west and south-west of Vinnitsa occupied over 30 places. The Russians south of Jmerinka occupied Murovka, besides other places. Thy Red Army south of Mohilev-Podolsk continues the offensive for an extension -of the bridgehead on the west bank of the Dniester, and occupied 15 places, including the district centre in the Moldavian Soviet Republic of Nadushita, 18 miles -north of Balti. The communique repeats the Order of the Day on Pervomaisk, and adds that south-west of Dobrinels the Russians forged ahead and captured over 30 places. The Russians in the Nikolayev sector, after stiff fighting, occupied a number of places south ol Nikolayev, and Gogokhovka, six miles north-west of Nikolayev. GERMANS IN CRIMEA EVACUATION DIFFICULTY

RUGBY, March 22. Some 650 miles south-east of the furthest westward point yet reached by the Russians lies Sebastopol. The swiftness and depth of the Russian advance, particularly through me South-west Ukraine, focusses attention o the Crimea, and prompts the question why the Germans as yet show no signs of abandoning it. Mos. probable among the reasons discussed here is that they desire as long possible to prevent the Russian Fleet re-occupying .the Crimean bases particularly Sebastopol, and so operating in the Northern Black Sea. At present the Russians must operate from Novorossisk and other bases on the Caucasian coast. Novorossisk is 240 miles from Sebastopol. The risks in attempting evacuation by sea «.o Odessa—the Crimea is already cut off by land —must also be clear to the Germans. The seriousness ol the theatre from the air is shown by the recent striking success of the Russian Air Force in sinking 11 ships of a Crimea-bound convoy, and Russian submarines doubtless play their part. Were Odessa to fall—a contingency far from unlikely in view of the Russian capture of Kherson and the near approach to Nikolayev—evacuation from the Crimea would have to be made direct to Rumania by way of Constanza and Surina, 200 and 160 miles from Sebastopol. Such an operation would be <i perilous undertaking. Supply is the present dominating factor on the Ukraine front for both sides. The number of divisions either side can keep in the field depends largely on the transport available. The Germans’ transport problem has been greatly increased by cutting the Lwow-Odessa doubletrack railway upon which von Mannstein relied largely for support for his army. The two mam points of importance on the Ukraine front are General Koniev’s 20-mile thrust in 24 hours south-west from his bridgehead on the Dniester through Jassy to Dronkya, 10 to 15 miles down the Rodno-Lwow railway towards Krasny. General Koniev is thus rapidly gaining control of the Jmerinka-Mogilev-Podilsk line. Also, General Malinowsky has now widened his front to 60 miles on the Bug between Pervomaisk and Novaya Odessa.