BALTIC SUCCESS

Grey River Argus, 20 March 1945, Page 5

BALTIC SUCCESS

KOLBERG TAKEN Stettin Attack Stepped Up LONDON, March 18 Marshal Stalin in an order to Marshal Zhukov, Commander of the First White Russian Front and his Chief pf Staff, Colonel General Malinin, stated: Troops of the First White Russian Front having broken the resistance of the encircled German garrison occupied the town and port on the Baltic Sea of Kolberg. Lieutenant General Poplavski, Commander of the First Polish Army, is included in the list of Commanders, whose troops distinguished themselves in tne operation. A Soviet communique said: Southwest of Konigsberg. Russians fought battles for annihilation of an East Prussian Army grouping, and are .tightening the encirclement ring. They captured more than 40 places and 800 prisoners.

Moscow radio said: Danzig is ablaze. Big fires are burning furiously following an attack by our heavy bombers against military objectives. Reconnaissance pilots reported the only road leading northwards from Danzig to the Baltic towns of Zoppot and Gydnia is jammed with unoroken columns of lorries. The inhabitants are fleeing from Danzig. Prisoners state that no acommodation of any sort can be found in Danzig, Gydnia or Zoppct. Tens of thousands of refugees are camping in the open. German authorities are unable to help them. Thousands of others are living in Baltic coast localities, waiting for German ships. The radio added, however, that German naval communications are in a precarious position. HOW KOLBERG FELL KONIGSBERG TOUGHER (Rec. 12.40) LONDON, March 19 A Russian supplemntary communique described tactics used to capture Kolberg. It said: Units of the Red Army first broke into the western part of the town. From there they were able to lay down an artillery barrage against the harbour. Several enemy ships atempted to enter it. They were sunk. Russian forces thrust towards the east side of the town. In co-operation with units of the Polish Army, Russians on Sunday carried the town and port byassault. Streets were strewn with thousands of enemy dead. Much booty and many prisoners were taken. Three thousand Germans were killed on Sunday in fighting south-west of Konigsberg. The area held there by encircled enemy forces is now limited to a narrow strip. A News Agency correspondent in Moscow stated that a great concentric drive by General Chernyakovsky s troops was compressing the pocket around Konigsberg. Konigsberg is probably the toughest German bridgehead of the whole war on the east front. German detachments were being split from the main oody one by one, but the enemy vras still resisting furiously. SIEGE OF STETTIN. (Rec. 12.40.) LONDON, March 19. News Agency correspondents in Moscow stated’ that Russian forces who conquered Kolberg wheeled along the Pomeranian coast, adding eight divisions to Marshal Zhukov’s forces engaged in battering 'down the German bridgehead of Stettin. The Germans are making furious efforts to hold their bridgehead on the east bank of the Oder, and have thrown in new tank divisions in the Altdamm sector. Red Air Force ’planes were called in to deal with the panzers and to maintain an incessant bombardment of enemy ferry crossings. They have flown three thousand sorties in the last few days in spite of the bad weather.

Press correspondents in Moscow stated that front line reports said: Russians are closing in a'gainst Stettin, despite heavy concentrations of artillery arrayed against them. A Moscow radio military commentator said the advance by Zhukov’s army is threatening Swinemunde, the last important German naval base in the Baltic. The middle Oder front is under a security black out. It was reported at Moscow that there is reason to expept an announcement of significant developments when the security restrictions are lifted. The development of Russian offensive operations over a wide area on the southern front appeared to foreshadw a three-pronged drive in the direction of Vienna towards the back door of the German mountain stronghold in Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and Bavaria. Marshal Tolbukhin absorbed the weight of the German offensive towards the Danube and wore out the enemy before embarking on a strong counter-offensive. Correspondents consider that when the Russians throw in their full weight on this sector they will drive through the Austrian border. A Red Air Force campaign against Ostrava, the key rail junction beyond t)ie Moravian Gap is regarded as an indication of fresh developments on General Petrov’s front, where a drive is being made through the Carpathians. Tn Czechoslovakia, south-east or Zvolen, the Russians, as the result of of offensive battles, occupied several localities. On Maalinovsky’s front forces in the Hron Valley are storming the last mountain barriers before the Bratislava Plain. A British United Pres correspondent in Moscow stated: Marshal Zhukov’s forces can see at night Berlin searchlight beams and the glow . ot fires resulting from Allied bombing. Raiders are seen sweeping over Berlin nearly every day from the Russian front line.

RUSSIAN LEFT. MAKING FOR AUSTRIA. (Rec. 1.7.) LONDON, Marek 19. News Agency correspondents m Moscow stated: A news black-out still covers the Central Oden front. In ''the south General Malinovsky’s forces, after recapturing Zvolen, a railway centre, made several swift thrusts to the Hron River, and are now massing mbn and material along a water, barrier before the Bratislava gap. A Reuter correspondent at Moscow expresses the opinion that a thrust to Vienna can be expected through this gap, saying: “This development appears to be the beginning of a genera] flare-up across Czechoslovakia down to ’Hungary.” A German News Agency commentator, Von Hammer, described new Russian attacks in Upper Silesia as apparently intended to clear General Petrov’s flank as he strikes for the Marava gap. Fierce street fighting is going on near F'alkenberg, fifteen miles west of Oppeln. Von Hammer stated Russian forces pressed the Germans back, and are now striking south in the direction oil Neustadt, fourteen miles west of Neisse, and four miles from the Czechoslovak border. M’oscow “Pravda” stated tlry Rus-' sian air force is playing 1 , a' major role | between Lake Balaton and the Danube, striking heavy blows against German forces which have been coaa " ter-attacking. They smashed a b'A lorry concentration near Lake Ba aton. A Berlin radio commentator, von

Hammer said: Russian tanks are driving for a railway running along the Czechoslovak border from Katowice to Liegnitz through Kosel and Neise. They presefi back the German front to the westward. Russians also crossed the- Niesse River east ot the Grott-Kauneisse Road. RUSSIANS CAUTIOUS. ON ODER LINE. (Rec. 9.50). LONDON, March 19. Prudence and caution influences the Russians in delaying a final surge into Germany. In “The Spectator”, “Stratagious stated: The Russians know how little rope the Germans can be allowed with safety. Captain Cyril Falls, in the “London Illustrated News”, says: It cannot be denied that, in’the long interval since the Russians reached the Oder River in front of Berlin, the enemy has had time to reorganise his forces, and to improve his defences. Fortifications, which Hitler inspected recently, may indeed be formidable by now. This is in keeping wi,th the Russians.’ more cautious strategy. the Russians created a deep salient, they continued exploiting it to the utmost, and they sometimes suffered seriously from the Germans’ counter-attacks on their flanks. Now the Russians set themselves methodically to. broaden their front on such occasions.