EAST PRUSSIA INVADED

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 October 1944, Page 5

EAST PRUSSIA INVADED

RUSSIANS’ GREAT VICTORY “LAST ACT OF DRAMA” LONDON, October 24. The Russian armies invading East Prussia on a front of 90 miles are officially stated to have penetrated German .territory to a depth of 20 miles and to have captured 40 places, including the towns of Gumbinnen, Goldap, and Eydtkuhnen, The fall of Gumbinnen means that the Russians are only 15 miles from the important railway junction of Insterburg. German reports admit that Russian forces have reached the Angerapp River, 15 miles beyond Goldap and 35 miles inside the frontier. The Germans also say that fighting has spread as far south as the Augustow area, and that the Red Army has made fairly deep breaches between Suwalki and Goldap. The Red Army is driving towards Koenigsberg, the capital of East Prussia, from at least four points. It is known that three forces are advancing from the east and one from the north. The size of the armies engaged is indicated by the fact that in his order of the day Mr. Stalin named 63 generals and other high ranking officers who are taking part in the invasion. “The Red Army has already won a victory of the greatest strategic importance in East Prussia,” said Colonel Gerolin, the Moscow radios military commentator, whose late night reports, according to Reuter, are reserved for special occasions. Colonel Gerolin added: “Thousands upon thousands of Germany’s picked soldiers manning the East Prussian defences have been killed. The curtain has risen on the last act of tne drama that Hitler began.” A Moscow air communique says: “Red' Air Force long-range bombers on Sunday night raided the ports pl Ventspils (Windau) and Libau, in which were 20 to 30 transports. Many were directly hit. The Customs House and wharves at Libau were set on fire.” GERMAN RESISTANCE LONDON, October 24.. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says: The Red Army is meeting frantic German resistance at all points in its sweeping advance into East Piussia. German troops are heavily armed with the most modern weapons from Tiger tanks to the latest types of machine-guns and automatic nfles. They are also trying to. challenge the Russian artillery supremacy with their own formidable reserves ol gunpower. Meanwhile a great aitilleiy duel is being fought all along the Niemen River, which is the northern frontier of East Prussia, where General Bagramyan’s Ist Baltic Army has been massing in strength. The heav-e iest concentrations are at Tilsit. The Exchange Telegraph Agency s correspondent reports that the invasion of East Prussia was precipitated by one of the greatest tank battles and artillery duels of the war. The saturation by Russian artillery, which is reaching five hundred guns per mile on a number of sectors, is one of the vital factors in the breakthrough. “Red Star,” writing grimly oi the fate awaiting German towns in the path of the Red Army’s advance, says: Schirwindt was destroyed and it garrison annihilated. That will be the fate of every town which presents an obstacle to our troops. The Exchange Telegraph Agency s correspondent in Moscow says: The announcement that the Red Army s invasion of German territory was the occasion for great jubliation in Moscow. The Russians’ mood is heightened by the simultaneous announcement of victories on other fronts. They are joyful at what they feel is unmistakably the beginning of the. efid- . _ , „ “The enemy fighting m East Prussia is suffering exceptionally heavy losses in men and material,” says a Moscow supplementary communique. “On October 22 alone about 4000 Germans were killed, and more than 100 enemy tanks and hundreds of guns were' destroyed or disabled. The Red Army has now broken through the enemy’s second East Prussian defence line, which included electrified barbed wire.” The comunique also records a new advance of 15 miles south-east of Munkacevo, in Czechoslovakia, where the Germans are retreating hastily, leaving a great mass of dead on the battlefield. GERMANS PAYING PRICE. (Rec. 11.5 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 24. “The Times’s” Moscow correspondent points out that the Red Army, for the first time except in the Balkan campaign, is operating in East Prussia without the support of the partisans. On the other hand, the Russians feet none of the obligation to spare the towns and villages lying in their path that is incumbent on them when fighting on their own soil. There are indications at Schwirwindt that the German civilians had felt secure. They had taken no precautions to send personal possessions and valuables farther from the frontier. Potatoes in the surrounding areas were hot dug and rye was unthreshed. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Moscow correspondent says the roar of battle is continuing without respite day and night along the East Prussian front. The whole horizon after darkness is lit up by flashes from the artillery and exploding shells and mortars. The air is filled with the roar of battle planes supporting the advancing ground forces. All roads across the frontier are crammed with lines of infantry, tanks and guns filing in to take their place in the offensive. Red Army traffic regulators are directing the stream with The Germans are paying a terrific price for the efforts to stem the offensive. The battlefields are strewn with bodies and wrecked equipment. The Russians in East Prussia have captured a number of places and, after overcoming the barrier of the Augustow Forest, have occupied the town and railway station of Augustow, besides 50 other places, says tonight’s Soviet communique. DRIVE ON KOENIGSBERG. (Rec. 11 a.m.) LONDON, October 24. A broad wedge of Russian guns and tanks, massed on an unprecedented scale, is thrusting nearer Koenigsberg, the capital of East Prussia. General Chernyakovsky is throwing in everything in a bid to cover the remaining 60 miles to Koenigsberg before the Germans have time to regroup and bring up reinforcements, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. Chernvakovsky’s prospects are good. His tanks are rolling along smooth metal roads, his planes rule the skies, and the hard crust of the German fortifications, embodying threestoreyed forts fitted with electric light and artesian wells, has been decisively broken. The Russians are at present making a pincer movement against Insterburg, and should have that great communications centre within medium artillery range within the next 24 hours. The Germans have throwm fresh S.S. troops into the battle with the single order, “Die where you stand!” in a desperate attem'pt to halt Chernyakovsky’s great tank hammer. The British United Press correspondent says the Germans are coun-

ter-attacking savagely in East Prussia. They are fighting as-they have rarely fought before; their losses show this. Captain Ottava, Commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 22nd Regiment of the Ist East Prussian Division, revealed when captured that he had only eight of 500 men left alive. In every East Prussian town the Russians are reaching every building is loopholed and every preparation has been made for defence. The Berlin radio commentator, von Hammer, said the Germans south-east of Rominten had carried out a fighting withdrawal to the chain of lakes between Augustow and Philipow. FINNISH SUCCESS. LONDON, October 24. A Finnish communique reports that the Finns have captured Kolari, on the Norwegian frontier, and that the advance has continued in other sectors.

HUNGARY AND JUGOSLAVIA. RED ARMY’S GAINS. LONDON, October 24. A Soviet communique issued last night said: — ' “The Red Army in Hungary, northwest of Nyiregyhaza, has reached the south bank of the Tisa River, and west of Belgrade, in conjunction with Jugoslav National troops, the Russians have continued the battles for the extension of the bridgehead on the west bank of the Sava River. They have occupied Azanja. Bulgarian troops have captured Kocane. One hundred and eighty-seven tanks and 31 aeroplanes were destroyed yesterday. “The Russians and Jugoslavs have seized important positions in the Bazanija hills overlooking Zemun, and the last natural obstacles before the Srem plain, west of Belgrade,” says a Jugoslav communique. Commenting on this development, the British United Press says: “The Russians, when they have reached the Srem plain, will have excellent roads and flat country suitable for the deployment of armoured forces for an advance up the Sava valley to Zagreb.” . The communique also reports that Jugoslav troops are operating in the rear of the enemy on the northhJurgoslav plain near the Hungarian border. Others, who are advancing with the Russians on the same participated in the liberation of Bajmok. The Russians and Jugoslavs have tightened the ring around the enemy group cut off in Serbia, and are .fighting for Cacak and Kraljevo, both of which are on the railway to Sarajevo. , . J '■ The Czechoslovak patriot army fighting in Slovakia has been able momentarily to halt the furious German offensive from the east and south-east, but the Germans have started fresh attacks from the north and west, and the situation in the south is still threatening. This is indicated in a Czechoslovak communique, which adds that there has been strong air activity on both sides. The Budapest radio states that the Russians have entered KiskunFeleghyhaza, 35 miles north-west ot Szeged. FURTHER CAPTURES. LONDON, October 24. A Soviet communique states that the Red Army in Czechoslovakia has captured the large town and railway station of Hust, 32 miles south-east of Munkacevo. The Russians in North Transylvania have captured several places and have also broken into Satu Mare and engaged in street fighting. The Red Army ■in Hungary, northwest of Szeged, has occupied the large towns and railway stations of Kiskunhalas and Janoshalma. RELATIONS WITH POLAND.

HELSINKI, October 23.

Vaino Tanner, who has consistently expressed anti-Russian views, has been elected head of the Social Democratic Council, which is the ruling body of the most powerful party in Finland. Mr. Stalin, in a message to Paasikivi, the former Finnish Foreign Minister and now president of the newly-founded Finnish Soviet Society, said: “I have no doubt that friendly relations between Russia and Finland, based on co-operation and mutual respect, will be re-establish-ed.”