ALL-OUT ATTACK

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 241, 8 September 1944, Page 5

ALL-OUT ATTACK

CENTRAL POLAND BATTLE

LONDON, Sept. 7

The Russians are now going all-out in the battle for Central Poland and are speeding up their attack against the German defence belt along the Narew River, says the British I'nited Press's correspondent in Moscow. Major battles have now flared up all the way from Praga to Ostroteka. The Red Army is striking from the Ostroteka area to the Vistula, and from there it will be able to attempt a turning movement either against Warsaw or northwards to East Prussia.

The Associated Press's correspondent in Moscow" states that the relief of Warsaw may be near. Russian successes north-eastwards, where they have reoccupied Wolomin, appear to have resulted in the defeat of a large and well-equipped German army between Warsaw and Lomza. There are indications that this may be a break-through in considerable depth, which will lead to the freeing of Warsaw. The Berlin radio reports that huge forces are being hurled against the Germans defending the southern borders of East Prussia, and the most savage fighting is going on. The German Overseas News Agency states that the Soviet Supreme Command has thrown in a fourth army, and battles are raging between the Narew and the Bug. Pressure against the German Hues has increased. German reconnaissance reports powerful Soviet concentrations in the rear.

The Moscow radio says: The Red Air Force is maintaining its heavy battering against German positions and communications in East Prussia.

The Gorman News Agency commentator (von Olbcrg) reports that the Russians are lining up masses of tanks and infantry before the East Prussian frontier. They arc planning new attacks over a vast area. Another commentator, von Hammer, claimed the Germans had recaptured Ghimes, in the Carpathians. He added that fierce fighting was going on for the Ghimes and Oituz passes. , ;. . 13ALKANS TRAP. 'The Russians arc employing large groups of -paratroops for their rapid advance to liiik" up with Marshal Tito. Kladovo. the-point at which tho Russians reached the Yugoslav-Rumanian border, is famous as a centre, of Partisan activity, reports a correspondent. While the Russians have'-been sweeping across Rumania, the Yugoslavs have been conducting a great campaign against German communications, with the intention of trapping as many Germans as possible in the, Balkans. The Belgrade-Zag-reb line, one of the Germans' main escape routes, was cut at least 308 times, and there seems little chance of the Germans defending the Yugoslav side of the .Danube, which the Red Army has now reached at Kladovo, as they are lighting with their backs to a wall of mountains which are infested with Partisans, and their main supply line is the Belgrade railway, which almost certainly has been cut. Marshal Tito's plan is apparently to concentrate as much strength as possible in Central Serbia and thus threaten the chief German line of escape —the Salonika-Sotia-Nis-Belgrado railway—with attacks from both sides. Russian advanced elements are now only 90 miles from the railway.