RUSSIAN CAPTURES

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 September 1944, Page 5

RUSSIAN CAPTURES

BALTIC AREA GAINS BATTERING AT RIGA LONDON, September 24. “The Red Army, in its drive to Tallinn, also captured more than 800 inhabited localities, including the town and railway junction of Tapa, also the towns of Paide and Poltsamma,” said a Moscow communique. “The Russians north-west and west of Walga fought their way into more than 60 inhabited localities. The Red Army south-east of Sanok occupied, as a result of stubborn fighting, more than 30 localities. A Russian supplementary communique says that troops of the Leningrad front during their 50-mile advance to Parnu took 1000 German prisoners in a single day’s fighting. German divisional commanders east of Riga are openly appealing by radio to the German High. Command for help. “Two powerful Red Army forces after the capture of Tallinn are advancing towards the seaports of Haapsalu and Parnu to head off the German escape attempt,” said Reuter’s Moscow correspondent in an earlier dispatch. “The Germans have assembled a fleet ol light vessels at these ports with the object of embarking the remnants retreating from Tallinn.”

The Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press says that Riga is the last Baltic capital not yet liberated, but it will soon be freed from its German masters. Red Army troops on Friday night were inside the outer defences and battering into the heart of the city.” “The Russians on the Leningrad front have occupied Fellin, which is a large road junction in Southern Estonia, and 700 additional localities,” says another Russian communique. “The Red Army on the 3rd Baltic Front, continuing its offensive, has captured Volmar and a number of other localities, including two railway stations. The Russians east of Riga took the offensive and occupied 150 places. GERMAN SHIP SUNK “Red Fleet aircraft in daylight on Friday bombed, torpedoed, and strafed German ships evacuating troops from Tallinn. They sank 11 troop transports, and damaged one transport and one minesweeper. Red Air Force long-range aeroplanes on Friday night attacked Riga and Parnu and caused fires and explosions. “The Red Army on Friday destroyed 57 German tanks and 39 aeroplanes cn all fronts.” “The German survivors of the Red Army’s blitzkrieg in Estonia are now trapped as a result of Marshal Govorov’s break through to the Gulf of Riga and the capture of Parnu,” says the Moscow correrspondent of the Associated Press. “Marshal Govorov’s troops in the last seven days are estimated to have destroyed eight German divisions and shortened the Baltic front by more than 120 miles. They have also given the Red Fleet and the Red Air Force bases from which two-thirds of the Baltic can be controlled.” Earlier the Germans announced that they were evacuating Northern Estonia, "giving as an excuse that as a result of the signing of the armistice between Russia and Finland, there was no longer any need to protect Southern Finland and they could now do away with the long northern flank. PALDISKI BASE TAKEN (Recd. Noon) LONDON, Sept. 24. Ships of the marine units of the Red Fleet to-day captured the port of Paldiski, which is an important navai base in the Baltic, says a soviet communique. The Red Army south of Tallinn continued the offem,ire and occupied over two hundred localities. Russians north of Volmar developed the offensive and captured the town of Volmar and took Smitten and two hundred other places. Russians east of Riga, after stiff fighting occupied three railway stations. Torpedo-bombers of the Red Fleet yesterday sank three troop transports and a patrol vessel north west of the island of Osel. Torpedo-bombers also sank a ten thousand ton transport west of Peopapa and another smaller transport south-west of Ventspils. According to the Moscow radio, the Germans are rushing reinforcements into Latvia in the attempt to hold Riga. One regiment arrived from Berlin this week where it had been engaged removing bomb wreckage. The Russian forces which reached the Gulf of Riga at Pacu, are now advancing rapidly towards Riga. The Russians have powerful forces ol tanks and self-propelled guns to meet strong German concentrations ueai Riga. In the past week, the Red Army in the Baltic has destroyed more than five hundred German tanks, bringing the total number destroyed in six weeks to two thousand. Heavy bombers and fighter-bomb-ers following the fall of Rimini and Futa Pass, are pounding road bridges and railway targets -in Northern Italv in order to disrupt German traffic and create confusion behind the lines. GERMAN. CATASTROPHE (Rec. 1.0) LONDON, Sept. 24. Torpedo planes of the Red Fleet are strenuously attacking German ships evacuating troops from the coastal towns in the Northern Baltic. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Moscow correspondent says: Catastrophe is the only word to describe the German reverses in the past week on the battlefields of Esthonia and Latvia. The German Army group concentrated in the Baltic States, under command of General Schoerner, virtually no longer exists as a fighting forces of any significance. The rout of the remnants of these 20 odd German divisions is progressing with 1 growing momentum, as Russian mobile units are smashing the last organised resistance in the Baltic States. A Rumanian communique quoted by the Bucharest radio says that the Russians and Rumanians tonight crossed into Hungary from a base on the Transylvania border.

FIGHTING IN SLOVAKIA

RUGBY, Sept. 23.

A Czechoslovak communique reports heavy fighting in the areas of Handlova, ' a coal mining centre in Slovakia, 30 miles south of Vrutky and Svaty Martin. The Czechoslovak Government has forwarded to Mr. Churchill, Mr. Stalin. Mr. Roosevelt, General de Gaulle, and Marshal Chiang Kai-shek the following message from Czechoslovak troops and partisans in Slovakia: “The fight in Slovakia has opened anew front for the Germans in the very heart of Europe. To this front the Germans are forced to send divisions they urgently need at the western, eastern, and southern fronts. Thus the rising in Slovakia has linked up with the offensive by the heroic Soviet, British, American and French allies, with whom the Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia will soon join in driving the defeated German armies back to Berlin.” Another- message has been sent to Marshal Broz.

FINNS FIGHTING GERMANS. RUGBY, September 24. The German rout in Estonia has been so complete and rapid that almost the whole country has been cleared in a few days. The Russians gave no opportunity for an orderly withdrawal to and evacuation by sea from Tallinn and Parnu. An equally critical situation confronts the Germans in the south owing to the concentric Russian pressure round Riga down the Dvina and from Valga. Both Finland and Bulgaria have now definitely ranged their armies with the Russian against Germany. The Finns report that they are driving north against the Germans in the north of Finland and the Bulgarian Foreign Minister has announced that the national forces will henceforth cooperate with Tolbukhin’s Army in the Balkans and that Bulgaria will alter her whole foreign policy with her Slav neighbours, Russia .and Jugoslavia. - x 1 The Russians are now across the Carpathians south of Sanok at the eastern end of Slovakia. A Czechoslovak communique does not mention this, but states that at Telgart in Central Slovakia, our attacks are developing successfully. Our troops occuoied Wernar and Dobsina. In the areas of Svaty Nartis and Harfdlova defensive fighting continues. In the Upper Vah Valley a German attack was repelled.