E. PRUSSIA INVASION

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 October 1944, Page 5

E. PRUSSIA INVASION

RUSSIAN TASK DIFFICULT ARTILLERY CONCENTRATION LONDON, October 26. Large German reinforcements are reported to have been thrown into the battle in East Prussia, but in spite of this the. Russians continue to make progress. “The Russians, by striking into East Prussian territory where roads and railways permit the defenders to switch strength swiftly and .where every professional German officer is familiar with the tactical features of the land, have presented themselves with a strenuous task,” says the Moscow correspondent of “The Times.” “Russian generalship is more severely tested by the new offensive than perhaps at any other time during the war. There are indications that the Red Army in East Prussia is substantially replying with artillery superiority. The concentrations of fire during lust week’s opening barrage are described as surpassing that mounted by Marshal Voronov at Stalingrad, where, on some sectors, there was a gun on every three yards of the front. The Red Army’s- accumulation of selfpropelled armoured guns has been one of the most significant features in the last 12 months.”

A supplementary Moscow communique says that 2500 Germans were killed in Wednesday’s fightingin East Prussia. Forty-eight German tanlcs and 16 armoured troopcarriers were knocked out, “The German High Command has ordered the immediate evacuation of civilians living east of Motor Road 128 running from .Kronz, via Koenigsberg, to Ortelburg,” says the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Zurich correspondent. “Civilians living between Motor Roads 130 and 128 must prepare for evacuation, beginning within 10 days. The death penalty will be introduced if necessary.” Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the Germans are counter-at-tacking as fiercely as ever on the East Prussian front, throwing up; wards of 100 tanks and mobile guns into every onslaught against the advancing Red Army. Germans are pouring tanks and infantry reinforcements into battle straight from the march. Russians at Kirkenes made one of the richest hauls of enemy supplies for some time. The town was chock full of stipplies accumulated over a long period for the German Lapland army. Most of the supplies were captured intact.

FURTHER RUSSIAN CAPTURES. (Rec. 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 26. Russian troops on the Karelian front to-day continued the offensive and occupied a number of localities in the Petsamo region, including Pitkajarvi, on the Norwegian border, 47 miles south-west of Petsamo, says a Soviet communique. Troops in East Prussia encountered increasing resistance, but captured, in stubborn fighting, a number of German strongpoints, including small towns six, nine, 10 and 14 miles from Gumbinnen. The communique repeats the order of the day on the capture of Mukacevo and adds that troops of the Fourth Ukrainian Front between October 20 and October 26 captured 11,230 officers and men and took much booty. .Russians northwest and west of Satu Mare continued the offensive and captured, on Hungarian territory, over 40 localities. Troops of the Second Ukrainian front, during fighting in Northern Transylvania between October 21 and October 25 took 6700 prisoners. NOVEL SIGNPOSTS (Recd. 12.25 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 26. The Germans are expending men and armour on a great scale in an attempt to save the important road centre of Gumbinnen, the third city in East Prussia, states Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. German officers are shooting their own men whenever they show signs of‘panic at the Soviet barrages. Russian tanks and guns are engaged with a fresh formation of Tigers and Ferdinands, while the house-to-house struggle goes on in German hamlets, some of which have changed hands several times. East Prussia is described as a maze of fortifications. “The Times’s” Moscow correspondent says that Russian reinforcements continue to stream to the East Prussia past signposts saying: “Here accursed Germany begins,” and: “You are entering the wild beast’s lair.” It is language the Russian soldiers understand. NORWEGIANS TO FIGHT RUGBY, October 26. The battle for the liberation of Norway continues as the Red Army pursues the remnants of the troops routed at Kirkenes, states a Moscow message. Germany’s Lapland army is being crushed by crack Soviet Alpine troops, supported by tanks, aircraft and landing parties. The fleeing enemy are setting fire to their Winter stores. The Soviet forces, however, are making excellent use of those supplies they have captured. A number of aerodromes have been captured intact. The. “Red Star” states that the liberation of Kirkenes was accompanied by the capture of a number of airfields from which bombers and tor-pedo-carrying planes attacked Allied convoys on the way to Murmansk.

King Haakon of Norway in. a broadcast, announced that Norwegian forces are once again to fight on Norwegian soil alongside their Russian allies. Making this announcement, His Majesty stated that an agreement had been reached between the Norwegian and Soviet Governments for full military and civilian co-operation. “The last phase of the war may involve fresh difficulties and sacrifices,” he said, “but victory draws nearer day by day.” The battle of Norway has begun, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The Norwegian flag is now flying on lonely fishing hamlets for the first time in over four years. Soviet Arctic fighters are pressing on to complete the rout of the German groups fleeing from Kirkenes. The Germans by the loss of Kirkenes have been driven into the open and must retreat a long way before finding a defence point as good. • According to a Stockholm message, Norwegian sources state that the Tirpitz is anchored in a small bay four miles west of Tromso, but is expected to move further southward. GAIN IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA RUGBY. October 26. An order to the day issued by Mr. Stalin, and addressed to ColonelGeneral Petrov, states that troops of the Fourth Ukrainian Front, to-day, occupied Mukecevo (Munkaca), an important Czechoslovakian industrial and communications centre and an enemy stronghold on the southern slopes of the Carpathians. This represents an advance of nine miles from the closest area mentioned in yesterday’s Russian communique. Mukacevo has a population of over 26.000 and is in the eastern part of Czechoslovakia. There are iron mines close by. RUMANIA*N:LOSSES (Rec. 12.35 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 26. Rumanian losses in freeing Tranffylvanja and Banat are given by a Rumanian communique as 1500 offi-

cers, 1400 N.C.O.’s, and 62,000 men dead,' wounded or missing. The communique says: Our divisions on -the 1.94.0 frontier are ready to make new sacrifices because the Allies, until the German-Hungarian forces are crushed.

Ihe Berlin radio stated that Colonel-General Guderin, Chief of the General Staff, is now in command of the German armies in the East. GERMAN MASS KILLINGS (Rec. 1 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Oct. 26. The German atrocities on the east- * ern front have not and cannot be exaggerated, said Mr. W. Averell Harriman, United State Ambassador to Moscow, addressing a Press conference at Washington. He added: American people generally have not understood the unbelieyable nature of the German atrocities.- There was no way of exaggerating the way that Germans killed and tortured Polish and Russian captives.' Reports might vary as to the number of victims of Nazi slaughter houses, but numbers made little difference compared with the enormity of Nazi mass killings.