RUSSIAN OFFENSIVES

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 July 1944, Page 6

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVES

BALTIC AND LWOW AREAS GREAT PROGRESS MADE LONDON, .July 20. Launching a new offensive in the Baltic front, Russian armies have crossed the Velikaya River and have deeply penetrated enemy defences, south of Ostrov and.west of Latvia. In two days’ fighting the Russians advanced 43 miles. “The development by General Maslennikov of an all-out drive westward in conjunction with General Yeremenko’s army on his flank would threaten to cut off the German divisions in the Pskov area, and there is also another danger,”, says a Moscow correspondent. “Facing the Estonian front north of Pskov are massed two other Russian armies under General Popov and Marshal Govorov, which have not been announced in action since the Leningrad battles early this year.” Before Mr. Stalin’s announcement of the new thrust . the correspondent expressed the opinion that Lwow presented the main magnet for the Red Army. In the south the Russians have captured Remenov and Zibulki, respectively nine and 12 miles northeast and north of Lwow, which' is now within range of Soviet guns. A later report says the Russians are in sight of Lwow. A Moscow air communique reports that the Red Air Force on Tuesday night raided enemy military traffic stores at the railway junctions of Dvinsk, Lwow and Siedlce. Nine trains were smashed at Dvinsk. Mr. Stalin, in an order of the day addressed to General Maslennikov, who previously operated in the Kuban Province, says: “Troops of the Second Baltic Front, after piercing the Velikaya River, penetrated deeply the staggered enemy defences south of Ostrov, and in two days’ fighting advanced 43 miles and captured 700 places.” Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says Marshal Koniev’s massive tank forces, screened by powerful air fleets, are striking towards Lwow’s approaches in what is described as an “iron” wave. 120 MILES GAP. The military correspondent, of the British United Press says the new offensive announced by Mr. Stalin further increases the threat to the German 16th and 11th Armies, under General Lindemann, holding the northern Baltic States. A considerable portion of these armies are in Estonia, holding the Pskov area just north of Ostrov. Meanwhile, to the south, masses of Russian tanks are pouring through the 120-mile gap torn by Marshal Koniev’s army in the German defences covering Lwow, and the retreating enemy forces are being subjected to the heaviest continuous shelling of the war. “The Germans, anticipating the Russian offensive towards Lwow, had their advanced positions lightly manned in daytime with powerful concentrations in reserve to lunge forward in counter-attacks once the barrage lifted, but Marshal Koniev opened the offensive without the usual artillery support and Red Army vanguards swiftly over-run the German positions,” says a correspondent of “The Times.” “Guns opened up and aeroplanes went in only when the Russians were firmly in the German lines. The tactics were completely successful, the Germans being unable to stage counterattacks.”

The Moscow radio declares the Lwow offensive has opened up in earnest. The German fortified zone, ploughed up by bombs and shells, now has the appearance of a fiat-tened-out ant-heap, with insects crawling about in circles.

FIGHT FOR LWOW.

GERMAN STRONG EFFORT.

(Rec. 11.5 a.m.) LONDON, July 20. The Germans are throwing in everything they have in a strenuous effort to prevent the Russians overrunning Lwow and Brest-Litovsk, the two great fortress towns on the central front guarding the approaches to Warsaw and Germany proper. The British United Press Moscow correspondent .says the battle for Lwow is at its height. Gigantic tank battles are raging at the approaches to Lwow. The German High Command, threatened with the loss of Lwow and the consequent folding up of its entire front north of the Carpathians, is throwing in tanks by the hundred in an effort to slow down the Red Army juggernaut. Koniev’s Army, fighting in sight of Lwow, faced as many as 450 tanks in one day. The enemy flung groups of 200 tanks into the battles for vital points before Lwow, but bv the end of the day had lost 50 tanks—besides the ground they had tried to hold. The Luftwaffe is also throwing in more and more of its hoarded bombers in attacks against the Russian communications and concentrations. The Germans before Brest-Litovsk are putting in engineers and security troops to bolster up their line there against attacks of almost as great a strength as those the Red Army is mounting at Lwow. German resistance in these two sectors is stronger than al any time since the offensive started on June 23, nevertheless despite, growing resistance at some points, the strength of the Russian advances along the whole line is maintained in a remarkable manner. The Russian tanks which participated in the battle for Grodno had advanced 300 miles since the beginning of the offensive, fighting all the time. The United Press military correspondent describes the battles raging before Lwow and Brest-Litovsk as probably the DECISIVE BATTLES of the war. He points out that Berlin hinted the Russian plan is to shatter the German front in the centre, then roll up the broken German armies against the Carpathian Mountains, which is a classic manoeuvre of defeating an army in the field rather than merely acquiring territory. The German News Agency commentator, von Hammer, said the Russians had opened a new large-scale offensive towards the Bug between Brest-Litovsk and Bialystok. Strong Russian-tank and infantry forces advanced westward and south-westward from the Bialystok Forest, which is 3G miles north of Brest-Litovsk. The German News Agency also reports lighting at Augustow, eight miles from East Pzuissia. Reuter's Moscow correspondent says German resistance has stiffened in the Alytus sector of the Niemen Line protecting the approaches to East Prussia, but they are giving ground west of Grodno. Fresh German troops are rushing up all the roads to Niemen for the decisive battle. ANOTHER OFFENSIVE. Yet another Russian offensive which has been going on for three days is announced by Mr. Stalin in an order of the day addressed to Rokossovsky. “Troops of the First Ukrainian Front* advancing from Kowel, broke the strong enemy defence system and in three days’ lighting advanced 31 miles, widening the breach to 93 miles. We .captured 400 inhabited localities, including Opalin, 44 miles west of I Kowel, also Luboml and Ratno, 32 ' miles north of Kowel, and reached the

western Bug River. Twenty salvoes from 224 guns will be fired in Moscow, saluting the feat.” The British United Press says tne new offensive threatens to outflank Brest-Litovsk and cut . off the German armies facing Koniev’s thrust m the south. The Russians have reached the western Bug River at Opalin. and if the thrust is continued across the Bug will cut a deep wedge between Warsaw and Lwow, cutting oil the German armies in Central Poland jTom those in the south. — MORE CAPTURES. (Rec. 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, July 20. Mr. Stalin, in a second order of the day, addressed to Koniev, states that troops of the First Ukrainian Front carried by assault Ravaruska, 30 miles north-west of Lwow, and Vladimir Volynsky, so miles southwest of Kowel. These were important strongpoint's in the German defence system in fhe Western Ukraine. To-night’s Soviet communique states that the Russians south of Ostrov captured 30 places and north of Druja captured several localities. The Russians cut the railway from Dvinsk to Ponevej, which is 90 miles west of Dvinsk on the railway to Mernel; and also west of Volkovysk captured several places. The Russians in the Brest Litovsk sector captured the town and rail station of Kobryn, 28 miles east of Brest Litovsk oh the railway from Pinsk, besides over 50 other places. The Russians in the Lwow sector captured the rail station of Doroshev, five miles north of Lwow. The Russians west of Brody continued to mop up the encircled enemy group, who unavailingly attempted to break out.