MIGHTY THRUST

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21619, 23 January 1945, Page 3

MIGHTY THRUST

AIMED AJ POSEN FEROCIOUS BATTLE EAST PRUSSIAN TOWNS (11 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 22. The progress of Marshal Zhukov’s mighty thrust in the centre direct tor Berlin is revealed by a Moscow communique which states that he has captured Sompolno, 65 miles northwest of Lodz which was captured on Friday. Marshal Zhukov is using the Warsaw-Berlin road as the main route and is now aiming directly at Posen, from where he is less than 30 miles. The Berlin radio says that Marshal Zhukov’s forces have reached Konin, 18 miles south-west of Sompolno. The streets of Gumbinnen, East Prussia, which was captured on Sunday, are choked with German dead, states a Moscow communique. The Red Army killed 3000 Germans and took 500 prisoners. The enemy counter-attacked repeatedly in an effort to halt General Chernyakovsky’s advance against the town. Every house in Gumbinnen had to be stormed separately. The Berlin military spokesman reports that Russian armoured spearheads, racing across the Tannenberg battlefield, have pushed far into the German area. German divisions are struggling far behind the Russian formations. The numbers involved on both sides dwarf anything previously known. The whole Eastern Front battlefield now extends over 100,000 square miles, with the fighting of a ferocity unparalleled in history. General Chernyakovsky’s troops, advancing through the marshes and streams of East Prussia, have fought their way through the unending lines of steel and concrete and are closing in on Insterburg from the north and the east. The Germans are using every possible defence to limit the rapid swichting of tanks and motorised infantry from sector to sector on well-built modern roads. The German News Agency says that General Chernyakovsky yesterday launched a new offensive against East Prussia from the area of Suwalki in a frontal thrust directed towards the Masurian Lakes. This new drive is between the present offensive area and Marshal Rokossovsky’s front. Reuter's correspondent in Moscow says that Hitler in recent months assembled special formations in East Prussia which are equal to the Germans’ best. The province is heavily fortified and for many years only substantial houses, which could readily be converted into forts, have been permitted to be constructed. Hitler Loses H.Q. The Daily Express correspondent in Moscow says that the Red Army’s advance has forced Hitler to abandon the Eastern headquarters which served him l'or more than two years. It was a wooden barracks with deep concrete shelters hidden in a wood 48 miles from the East Prussian frontier. The Soiet communique, after repeating the three Orders of the Day, records the capture of more than 600 places, and adds: "Troops of the Second White Russian Front in Poland capturfed Lubawa and Plock. Troops of the First Ukrainian Front in Poland captured Zawiercie and also 60 places south-east of Cracow. The Russians in , Czechoslovakia, north-west of Kosice, captured a number of places. The Russians in Budapest continued the annihilation of the encircled enemy on Buda and, south-east of Szekesfehervar, repelled strong tank and infantry attacks.