FIRST MAJOR PRIZE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 38, 13 January 1944, Page 5

FIRST MAJOR PRIZE

VALUE OF SARNY VITAL EAILWAY CENTRE (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec 12.20 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 12 The Red Army has claimed its first major prize in Poland with the capture of Sarny. The British United Press Moscow correspondent, before the announcement of the capture of Sarny, stated that the Germans around the town were counterattacking more, strongly than at any time since the push into Poland began. He pointed out that a 30-mile stretch of the important Lwow-Vilna railway has come under Russian control with the capturo of Sarny.

Sarny, which is the most westerly point that the Red Army has so far reached, is the junction of two main railways—the Kiev-Warsaw trunk line, and the north-south railway from Vilna to Rovno.

The British United Press reports that powerful Red Army tank and infantry forces are moving down towards the river Bug along a 100-mile front as the Germans bring up increasing reserves in a last desperate effort to hold General Vatutin back from the Rumanian' frontier. The correspondent expresses the view that some of the fiercest fighting of the whole campaign may be expected in the next 24 hours in a decisive action which should seal the fate of all the German armies in South Russia. The Russian forces which captured Nemirovo have already outflanked from the south the great railway town of Vinnitsa, on tho river Bug. Nemirovo is only a few miles east of the Bug and battles for the first crossings may already he going on. The Russians approaching the Bug south of Vinnitsa are little more than 20 miles from the vital OdessaLwow railway. The Bug River still lies between,the Red Army and the railway, which is one of the most important objectives of the whole West Ukrainian campaign. The Germans are expected to fight hard for the Bug Line in view of its tremendous military and political importance.