THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 62, 10 August 1944, Page 3

THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE

30 MILES BEYOND VISTULA. LONDON, August 8. “The Red is now meeting its toughest opposition since the opening of the summer offensive, and, except for gains on both extremities of the front, it is engaged in fierce battles for fortress positions/’ says the Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press. “The war remains fluid only in the Baltic States and on the northern slopes of the Carpathians. “The Wehrmacht, stiffened with infantry and armoured reserves is now making a final stand to save the Reich from the invasion. Russian pressure is intense against all strongpoints of the enemy line and ready to pour another flood of troops through any breach. “The Red steadily encroaching westward along the Carpathians, is also nearing the moment when it can launch powerful blows towards the Danubian Basin. ’ ’ The Russians are now 30 miles beyond the Vistula River and less than 30 miles from the main railway running south-west to Silesia. The bridgehead across the Vistula south-west of Sandonperz now extends as far as Szydlow, which is only 25 miles south-east of the important junction of Kielco.

OUTNUMBERED BY 40 TO 1. LONDON, August 8. “The German forces defending East Prussia are outnumbered by 40 to 1,” said a Berlin radio commentator broadcasting to the German people. He added: “German troops, after weeks in the front line without respite, are possessed by a feeling of abysmal tiredness. They are unable to think. Their only preoccupation is to find a white bed to sleep in and to gain some strength. * ‘ These worn-out men have been pressed to the East Prussian frontier from the central sector by Soviet armies so superior in men and materials that it is hardly believable. We simply have not enough men, and the greatest courage is of no use in these eircunhstances. We have tanks and guns but again and again the reduced ranks of infantrv divisions are involved in the heaviest battles. If we lose one soldier we have to kill 30 or 40 Russians to cancel our loss. “The knowledge of this Soviet superioritv is like a weight pressing on the minds of the German troops. Lack of manpower, lack of trained soldiers that’s why we have retreated to East Prussia. ’ ’