KANEV POCKET

Grey River Argus, 17 February 1944, Page 5

KANEV POCKET

BEING WIPED OUT German Relief Effort Held i HEAVY VITEBSK FIGHTING [Aus. & N.Z. Press Assn.J ( (Rec. 12.1) LONDON, Feb. 16. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent staged: . The\ iGeflmans’ effortfe to ] break through north-west of Svenigorodka to relieve the divisions trapI ped in Kanev pocket are getting weaker. Latest reports show the Russians have the situation well in hand, continuing a methodical destruction of 'encircled Germans. Gen. von Manstein’s most determined attacks have' failed to deepen or broaden the dent hammered in the i 1 Russian positions earlier this week. 1 Gen von Manstein must be beginining to see the tables turning against him as the trapped divisions inear their end. When mopping up operations are completed, he will be ! faced by the most powerful Rus- < sian group yet assembled west of I the Dnieper. . t x _ A Soviet communique states: Russians, north of Svenigorodka and 1 Shpola, continued fighting for liquida- ■ tion of encircled enemy groups, and | tightened the ring and occupied sevieral strongly fortified centres of reI sistance. Russian forces simultaneously, north-west of Svenigorodka, I successfully repelled tank and infanjtry attacks aimed at relieving the \ surrounded troops. A dispatch to the 8.8. C from Moscow saj(s: Remnants of the German divisions are on their last legs. Isolated groups are being relentlessly pounded by Russian artillery and aircraft. Reuter's Moscow correspondent states: Herded in the last remain- • ing pocket of the south-west cornei of the Kanev trap, the remnants OI the German divisions are struggling, to hold on from hour to hour, me Russians counted 20,000 German dead in the part of the island already captured. In addition, it is estimated that at least another 30,000 killed <md wounded are inside the German-held ; area. With the total prisoners aaqed, it seems probable that a' good halt of Stemmerman’s original force is •already liquidated. The correspondI ent quotes the “Red Star” as saying i that the area which the Germans oc'cupy at Kanev is literally flowing i with blood under the Red Army s I blows. Soviet artillery continues to I rain shells against the exhausted enemy, while fresh artillery is rushed lup to the main front to stem the i panzer relief drive. Another Moscow message states. Russians have maintained the pressure striving to wipe out the enemy * garrison before would-be rescuers I could gain fresh ground. All around the area of the trap which has shrunk to about two hundred square miles from the original thousand, Soviet artillery continues to ram shells on the exhausted enemy, while fresh artillery has been rushed to the main front to stem the panzerdrive north-west of Svenigorodka. One German unit of about one thousand men tried to break out of the trap but were cut off from the main body and annihilated. GERMAN RELIEF ATTEMPT. ”IONDON. Feb. 15. South-west of Korsun (in the area north-west of SVenigorodka) the Germans have forced the Russians to give a little ground after 10 days of all-out counter-attacks. A distance of at least twenty miles still separates the German relief expedition from the surrounded forces west of Cherkassy. A correspondent says: The impression in Moscow is that the task is beyond them, and that the liquidation lof the trapped forces cannot be pre- : vented. Although German positions are crumbling hourly., von Mannstein has not yet given up hope of rescuing his comrades from whom he is only 15 miles. He is swinging his panzer battering-ram in a new fierce bid to force a break-through from the outside, and is throwing in wave after wave of tanks and men in savage attacks. The German dent driven into the Soviet positions, has come at a time when the whole defence svstem of the encircled Germans is fall ing to pieces, while it may indicate the complete wiping out of the northern group of Germans in the pocket. ; An v further success which von Mann- i stein may achieve will be too late for ! any but prestige purposes. There can be no question of rescuing the entrapped forces.' BIG VITEBSK .BATTLE (Rec. 12.30) LONDON, Feb. 16. Paris radio reports that Russians concentrated at Vitebsk all the strongest forces anywhere on the eastern front, comprising fiftv--1 eight infantry and twenty-eight , tank divisions. Russians forced i some breaches, but have been linkable to achieve a break-throfigh ; One of the bloodiest battles of the ■war is going on at Vitebsk, says the j Stockholm Tei'egram Bureau. It ■ may well be compared with StalinI grad in hardness and ferocity. ■ A ] German war correspondent on tms ■ front reports Russian batteries as I hurling three shells for every square yard of the German line, wth Rus--1 sian assault columns, mainly composed of crack troops from the Fai East attacking With unbeXatl? fanaticism and comtempt for deatn. Vichy radio states violent fight ng is raging around N arva ; fl „„^ uss ]he forces attempting to outflank the town from the south-west A Soviet communique stated. RusJsians south and south-east made a fighting advance and captured a number of inhabited localities. Also | south of Luga they ca P tura< l I forty places, including Gorod , e i teen miles south of Luga and the rail , station at Serebryanka, 13 miles south-\Vest of Luga', on the LugaI Pskov line. , I Reuter points out that as the Kus- ' sian armies wheel southwards ov® l the 100-mile. front pivoting on Lake Peipus the eastern end of the km Army line is swinging towards tne junction of the Don midway alone, the railway linking Pskov and btaraya Russa. If the Russians succeed in cutting the line the Ge ™ l s llS +no r Starayfc. Russa may again, find tney have waited too long beiore wnndrawing. _ , Russians before Narva, where the Germans have strong aa .® ns . i y® positions, are marking time while tne Pskov operation develops. completion of the Pskov operation win be one for a simultaneous breai<through to Estonia from the north and south. Estonian units fighting with the Red Army total several divisions. Russians continue to advance towards Pskov, important ran centre near .the south-eastern tip ot Lake Peipus. A Moscow message says the terrain before the Red Army here is difficult and resistance is likely to stiffen nearer Pskov. The Germans will try hard to hold the railway running east from Pskov to Starayja Russa.