RUSSIAN LULL

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 November 1944, Page 5

RUSSIAN LULL

FINAL ASSAULT PLANNED HUGE RESERVES AVAILABLE LONDON, Nov. 9. Reports from Moscow Presscorrespondents emphasise that the Req. Army is taking advantage of the present lull which extends all along the front to prepare for launching a fourth great Winter offensive. * Pravda” makes no secret of Russian intentions. It says: ‘The Red Army and the armies of the Allies are poised for a final assault against life, centres in Germany. The Red Army is going put on its final mission to exterminate the German Army in its own lair. It is believed in Moscow that Marshal Tolbukhin’s Third Army will shortly be thrown into the Hungarian campaign, states the American Associated Press Moscow correspondent. The Russians’ long communications lines, however, will continue to be an important factor. Most recent Soviet actions have been swift, hard-hitting offensives, which smashed the German front line. The Russians then had to halt to build up the campaign. Their attacks over the Hungarian plain between the Tisa and the Danube have been this type of operation. The German News Agency reports that Soviet reserves massed behind the Russian lines in East Prussia are estimated to exceed those so far engaged in battle. FURTHER PROGRESS. (Rec. 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 9. A Soviet communique reports that the Russians between the Tisa and the Danube fought a way into over 50 inhabited localities. There was reconnaissance activity in other sectors, with fighting of local importance at some points. BELGRADE IN RUINS. LONDON, November 9. The first British journalist to reach Belgrade after its liberation, Reuter’s correspondent, says shrunken frames and lined faces show the horrors and hardships which the people suffered in three years. “Everywhere,” he says, “there are signs of the heavy bombing, first by the Germans in 1941, and later by the Allies. Most of the big buildings are mere empty shells, and the great marshalling yards and railway stations are wildernesses. All the river bridges except one are smashed, and the quays are lined with sunken ships and barges. There is hardly a house in the centre of the city which is not bearing marks of the recent street fighting. Some streets are still full of derelict tanks and burnt-out cars. More than 20,000 German dea;i have been taken from the city. A few Germans and several dangerous quislings are still hiding in the ruins.” “The Germans in the more southerly parts of Jugoslavia are making strenuous efforts to extricate themselves along the valleys which run through the mountainous country dominated by Jugoslav guerrillas,” says a Jugoslav communique. “They are also strengthening the defences of Skoplje and Kumanovo, in Macedonia, towards which the Jugoslavs are marching. In the western Morava Valley, in Serbia, the Germans have succeeded in breaking through. They have also succeeded in effecting a breach towards Visegrad, bn the eastern fringe of Bosnia, and they have advanced towards Tuzla and captured the railway from Brod to Doboj.” ADVANCE IN NORWAY LONDON, Nov ; 9. Berlin Overseas Radio admitted that German forces have evacuated Hammerfest, in Norway. It added that defence measures are being taken against Russians advancing into Norway. NORWEGIAN"MISSION. LONDON, November 8. “The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr. Trygve Lie), accompanied by the Minister of Justice (Mr Terje Wold) and other Norwegian authorities, have arrived in Moscow,” says an agency message. “They were received by the Soviet Foreign Commissar (Mr. Molotov). In a broadcast speech, Mr. Lie said that the Norwegian and Russian people have been good neighbours for hundreds of years and would continue to be so in the future. The Norwegian Ministers have been residing in London since their countrv was occupied in 1940. They have gone to Moscow to make personal contact with the Russian Government, whose forces recently entered Norwegian territory in the Arctic. Some time ago agreements on the civil administration of Norwegian territory io be liberated were concluded between the Norwegian, British, and Russian Governments. JAPANESE CONSIDERATION (Rec. 11 a.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 9. The Tokio radio declared that Mr. Stalin’s speech branding Japan as an aggressor nation “surprised and offended the Japanese people.” It added: The address has become the central topic, of discussion in Japan, but members of the Government are refraining from comment. Japanese propagandists reiterated the claim that Japan is . fighting to fr.ee Greater East Asia from the imperialism of Britain and America. The radio said that the Japanese were surprised by Mr. Stalin’s statement, because liberation and aggression were opposite things. “It is naturally expected that Russia’s foreign policy will change as new situations demand, consequently it is the Japanese general public’s firm belief that Japan must also adopt a realistic policy which will conform to any new situation created by the Russians.”

The Tokio radio, in another broadcast, said: “The Japanese General Staff has established a bureau to study the secret of certain victory.”