STAND IN HUNGARY

Grey River Argus, 24 November 1944, Page 5

STAND IN HUNGARY

BY THE GERMANS , • Very Hard Fighting- ; [Aust. & N.Z. Press Association] (Rec. 1.0). LONDON, November 23. The British Associated Press Moscow correspondent says: The Ger- * mans now appear to be determined to . make as big a battlefield as possible in Hungary. They are showing the , stiffest resistance north-east of Buda- <• pest. The Red Army is there throw- . mg in wave after wave of tanks and ■ of infantry. The Germans appear to be putting more and more anti-tank weapons into this line. Villages are . changing hands several times, ■ particularly in the areas of Miskolc?, Hatvan and Eger. There the fighting is the bitterest. Many towns and villages between the Tatra Mountains in Upper Tisza have been devastated. It is probable that Budapest will suffer the same fate as these, for the Germans appear now to be ready to fight it out in the capital’s streets. A Soviet communique stated: —_ • Russians captured five inhabited .. places in Hungary to-day, including one village five miles west of Eger . and another eight miles south-west of Hatvan. In north-eastern Hungary the Russians are closing in on the town of Eger, 90 miles from Budapest, and 2o miles from the Czechoslovak frontier. Between November 8 ..and November 20 our forces took prisoner nearly 12.000 Hungarians and Germans. Reuter’s correspondent at Moscowstated: Fighting has resumed at the approaches of Budapest, where the Germans are. reported to ; be blowing up the main buildings of the city. Sandbag and machine-gun posts are being established in the streets in readiness for house-to-house fighting after the Russians burst Malinovsky is hitting hard and fast. The “Red Star” sav-s his advance is directlythreatening the Germans’ major military and economic bases in Southeast Europe. The German News Agency commentator, von Hammer, reports that the Germans have abandoned Tokaj railway junction, north of Budapest, and says that heavy fighting is progressing in the Hatvan area. Seven (possibly eight) Russian divisions have been thrown in in the course of a new Russian' offensive at Uzhorod (Czechoslovakia) north-east of Budapest. These divisions, with support■ng tanks, are attempting to clear up the German salient. New Russian attacks at Miskolcz are to be expected in order to assist the Russians fighting at Uzhorod. VOROSHILOV REPLACED.

MOSCOW, November 22. In is announced in the Russian press that Marshal Voroshilov has been relieved of his duties as l a member of the Russian Defence Council. He is replaced by General Nikolai Bulganin. EAST PRUSSIA. LONDON, November 22. Moscow “Izvestia” reports: The Germans on the East Prussian front are engaged in a partial regrouping of their forces. Russian Stormoviks are ranging over roads in East Prussia, smashing against German port columns. BALTIC ISLANDS. LONDON, November 22. Moscow “Izvestia” stated: Capture of Osel Island will unlock the south- - ern entrance of Port Riga as another. invaluable Russian base at the .ap--proaches to Germany. The Associated Press Moscow correspondent says: The German garri- . son at Osel is fighting in a dwindling pocket barely four miles deep against the Red Army’s annihilating blows, which are supported by the Red Fleet' and the Red Air F'orce. The complete liquidation of the enemy at. Osel is believed to be a matter of days. Fierce fighting is going On on ’ the Latvian mainland. The Germans trapped in Western Latvia counterattacked 40 times south-west of Jelgava in the past 24 hours. The Russians co-ordinated the battle in this sector with the final phases of the offensive at Osel Island.