FIVE CROSSINGS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21632, 8 February 1945, Page 5

FIVE CROSSINGS

ZHUKOV’S ARMIES HUGE AIR UMBRELLA FRANKFURT’S PERIL LONDON, Feb. G. Marshal Zhukov’s forces with five bridgeheads, which the Germans say they have established across the Oder on the sector facing Berlin—one at Kienitz, one south of Kustrin, one three miles south of Frankfurt, and two at Furstenburg—have now joined battle, with the large German reinforcements in what appears to be the first stage of the battle for Berlin itself, says the British United Press’ correspondent in Moscow. Red Army storm units reached the west bank ol the Oder in the Frankfurt-Kustrin sector under a huge umbrella of Russian planes which is sweeping the area between Berlin and Frankfurt. Stormovik dive-bombers are relentlessly pounding streams of German reinforcements moving up to the Oder. The German military spokesman, speaking on the Berlin radio, admitted that Marshal Zhukov’s troops have broken into Frankfurt’s outer defences.

The Germans are also concerned about the northern sector. The Times’ correspondent in Stockholm says that Berlin military spokesmen are emphasising that the Russians have rapidly enlarged their bridgehead, enveloping Kienitz, and “have brought extraordinarily large forces there with the obvious intention of striking north-west to the rear of Stettin’s main defences.” No Real Pause Likely

Berlin commentators warn the German people not to expect a real pause of weeks or months on which many have counted. The commentators say nothing about the “Oden Wall” but rather dwell on the large accumulation of men and material which Marshal Zhukov has already brought up to this “tank ditch.”

Colonel Ritter von Schramm, a German military analyst, speaking on the Berlin radio, said: “After weeks of the blackest crisis, our countermeasures in the East are becoming more effective. The enemy, however, still broadly retains the • initiative. More ground will have to be yielded in some sectors.” The Moscow radio claimed that the German armies lost 500,000 men in the first two weeks of the Red Army’s winter offensive. The Soviet. High Command communique says that the Russians l in East Prussia, north of Allenstein, captured several places, including Axnsdord. Marshal Koniev, in a drive south-east of Breslau, captured 60 places. The Russians in Budapes occupied 12 blocks of buildings. Troops of the Third White Russian Front took prisoner LieutenantGeneral Lubbe, commander of the 343rd German Infantry Division.