GERMAN RETREAT

Grey River Argus, 8 January 1944, Page 5

GERMAN RETREAT

ON LARGE SCALE ON RUSSIAN FRONT ; Believed Imminent I [Aust. & N.Z. Press Assn.] i (Rec. 12.20.) LONDON, Jan. 7. “We shall not hold Russian territory merely for prestige reasons,” a 'German military spokesman told the Stockholm Telegraph Bureau’s Ber-. lin correspondent. “If circumstances force a total retreat from Russia, this would be a secondary consideration,” added the spokesman. “Our first aim is to maintain our unbroken front.” : The correspondent interprets the statement as indicating that a new large-scale German retreat is imminent. i: ‘ ' • ■ Russian Westward Thrust AIM TO DISRUPT RAILWAYS. LONDON, Jan. 7. A Soviet communique stated Russian forces captured Chudov, a centre in the Jitomir region. Russians also captured a district centre in the Rovno region, besides over eight other inhabited places. Press correspondents reporting from: Moscow dwell on General Vatutin’s concentration on disrupting railways in the Ukraine stretching from Rovno to Jmerinka. i The Russian advance south-east from Byelaya Tserkoy is making swift progress towards the German bases at the head of the Dnieper bend front. Troops in this sector yesterday captured Tarashcha, 30 miles southeast of Byelaya Tserkov. ■ Now the Russians have captured Tarashcha, military commentators in London think the Germans will have to draw back from all positions on the right bank of the Dnieper, Bend. They may be staying there for two reasons. First, Hitler may have told them not to yield an incn of Russian soil. Second, they may feel in no particular danger because they think the situation will be restored. The British United Press Moscow correspondent says: Some of General Vatutin’s columns are thrusting westwards along the railway from Berdichev to Shepetokva, with a view to cutting the north-south line there, while father south the Red Army is ■beating the Germans back along the railway from Berdichev to the important railway junction of Vinnitsa, where the Germans are likely to make the next stand. The German forces on the arc between Vinnitsa and Shenetovka are pouring back south-westwards over the dirt roads designed to bear nothing bigger than ■farmers’ carts. ' Another report stated: A gradual but inexorable loss of communications made the Germans frenziedly cling to the important rail centre of Berdichev. The enemy, right to the moment of the Russians’ final attack were building fortifications and bringing up" reinforcements. It was only after the Red Army forces ■foup-.ht from street to street that what was left of the once prosperous farming town was reclaimed. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent stated: - General Vatutin is forcing the pace as he drives the fleeing Germans south-west of Berdichev, where the enemy’s losses in killed, wounded and prisoners are unofficially estimated at twelve thousand. Berdichev stood in the wav of General Vatutin’s drive south from Kiev, and its fall will open up the way to the important rail junction of Zhmerinka, through which German supplies pass to the armies in the Dnieper bend. . . i The British United Press points out that each successive step backwards loosens the Germans’ hold on the Ukrainian railways and lessens the enemy’s ability to manoeuvre troops to meet the Russian thrusts. The Red Army, on the other hand, depends much less on rail communications, as the Russians are accustomed to using other methods Ox transport.

OVER POLISH BORDER.

LONDON, Jan. '6. A Soviet communique stated:—Troops on the first Ukrainian Front captured Rokitno. 12 miles west of the old Polish border. The British United Press Moscow correspondent emphasises that the Russian, capture of Rokitno is the first official Russian intimation that Vatutin’s forces are across the old Polish border. Another report from Moscow, stated: Red Army forces which crossed the old Polish border on Tuesday have advanced nearly oo undies inside Poland. ■ Moscow however is still silent officially regarding any Red Army movements west of Olevsk and No-vograd-Volynsk across the border A Russian communique stateu. - North of Nevel, the Red Army captured several inhabited places. Another report stated: Advancing north of Nevel, in White Russia, the Red Army yesterday took more than 90 places, and is approaching bOKOiniki. on the main railway to Leningrad. More Russian Captures IMPORTANT POSITIONS. (fßec . 11.50.) LONDON, Jan. 7. a Russian communique reports tne capture of Shashkov, thirty-five miles due south from Byelaya TseriTnv and Chodorkov, twenty-eight vniles south-west of Jitomir, ana rnmdnitsa, which is the terminus of ? h ° e r °Sway line on the old Polish frontier, twenty miles north-west of Nnvograd Volynsk. Thei British United Press correspondent at Moscow says: One of ?pne?al Vatutin’s columns is pres.P ? on rapidly from Berdichev over m hrnad front against the Polish a tnoad cap _ ?°S<l ’ Novomiropol, halfway betuied -oA r( ]j c hev and Shepetovka, Zozov it is now twenty-five miles east-north-onlY Vinnitsa. Other places capf aSt a bv the Russians include a railtured tai ion at Lipovets, twentywaV miles east of Vinnitsa, and three mu from a German escape tweive from the Dnieper railway rijessa! u r ' to Poland, bend and oencies also specify the News on the railway go P m Ü Ber d Dnieper Beni Offensive FURTHER RUSSIAN. advances. mV “LONDON, Jan. 7-(Roc.l-0-' Rnss j an offensive at the end of the Dnieper bend is

reported over Axis-controlled radio stations. According to the Vichy radio a new Russian offensive that .was expected in the Cherkasy region has been unleashed in the Kirovgrad and Krivoirog sectors. It obviously 'is aimed as forcing the Germans to evacuate the great Dnieper bend Vichy radio broadcast a late dispatch from Berlin claiming that the greatest tank battle throughout the war has just concluded north of Krivoirog, with a defensive German success. It adds that heavy fighting is going on in the Vitebsk area in the north, in addition to the entire Dnieper bend. It says that the centre of gravity in the fighting is m the area west of Jitomir. Moscow Pravada says: The most important result of General Vatutin’s Kiev offensive has ben to rout crack German tank divisions, including the Hermann Goering and Das Reich divisions. This is particularly significant, as these divisions are admitted to be the only real Germans—genuine Nazis trained in murder and taught to hold out in the darftest hour. Their losses have been so huge that only 6 or 8 men remained m some companies. A front-line correspondent in a dispatch to Moscow “Izvestia” says: I have not seen a single position, road trench or foot of soil in the path of which our troops are advancing beyond Jitomir and Berdichev that does not bear traces of our shells. The voice of war can be heard everywhere as- ever-growing columns of Russian guns and infantry march down roads. Enemy Plans LONDON, Jan. 6. Enemy resistance south of Berdichev is intense. German tommygunners stayed behind and held every house near the Vinnitsa highway in an effort to check the advance. . A Russian column which occupied Byelaya Tserkov is pushing out southwards in the direction of Cherkasy. The Germans entrenched along the west bank of the Dnieper-Cher-kasv region represent a menace to Vatutin’s left flank should he advance _in the Dnieper Bend.

The Germans are apparently concentrating on the defence . of Vinnitsa, with the object of holding off the Russians from the Odessa railway.. A German military spokesman discussed the advantages of fighting on two fronts. London opinion is that this hints at a possible splitting . of the German armies by a Russian thrust towards Rovno and Sarny. It is made clear, it is wrong to think there is any parallel in the present situation with that of Stalingrad. There the German army was surrounded. cut off, and destroyed. L a split occurs each German army will operate independently, with lines of communications to main bases intact. . r Berlin through its overseas service, which the German people do no<. hear, forecast vast new retreats comparable with those of last Summer and Autumn, when the Germans feh back 350 miles from Kursk. The militarv commentator, valiensleben said: “Elastic defence and defence everywhere is again the order of the day for the High Command thiq Winter. This probably means developments this Winter similar to those seen during the Summer and Autumn in Russia. What does, it matter if Russian territory is given up in order to preserve our army in view of the task- facing the Wehrmacht elsewhere.” Enemv sources continue to play up the magnitude of the Russian tank attack east of Kirovgrad. One Berlin commentator called it the greatest tank battle of the Winter campaign. GERMAN HARDSHIPS LONDON, Jan. 6. German officer's ion the Russian front apparently fear that the terrible experiences their troops are suffering may turn , the re.reat mto a rout. A panzer division officer, m an astonishingly frank broadcast to Berlin, said: “Our comrades are becoming very disquieted. We shoot like mad men, but the Russians have many guns and are such biuliant marksmen that we are unable, to achieve anything.! The communication line between our retreating troops is constantly interrupted by guerrillas.” , , __ A German war correspondent on the Russian front says: “It is ■almost impossible to live, let al °ne fight, on the Eastern Front. Our clothing is useless in the mud, ram, snow and icy winds. Hot food never reaches our lines. We never get cigarettes. It is so terrible you cannot think. Many soldiers are iH, especially with gastric trouble. Lire on the Eastern Front cannot be compared with anything.” The' German Foreign Office spokesman told Swedish correspondents in Berlin that the German winter fine in Russia has been split bv the deep penetration of the Russian Army.” The spokesman said the two fronts left in Russia were 360 and 480 miles long. He did not expect German counter-attacks to regain the lost positions, but claimed the Russians would be unable to roll up the German flanks because the two long fronts were still holding. GERMAN ANXIETY LONDON, Jan. 5. ■Nazi Officials are admitting frankly for the first time that Germany faces a critical situation Gloomy reports 'reaching (neutral countries every dav from Germany su KS es that the Nazis can see defeat ahead. The “Berliner* Boersen Zeitung savs: “Germany,, last year suffered political and military setbacks whicl would have brought collapse to any nation in the Allied camp. The New Year will bring still greater tests to be overcome, not merely for fortifications but for fanatical zeal.