Vital German Bases Menaced

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 211, 6 September 1943, Page 5

Vital German Bases Menaced

LODNON, September 3. While the full flood of the Russian advances continues against Smolensk, Bryansk and Mariupol, the German News Agency has announced that yet another Russian offensive has begun. The news agency said: “The long-expected Russian offensive in the Central Donetz area has been in full swing since early this morning. ” Dealing with the front as a whole, Reuter’s Moscow correspondent declares that the enemy centres of resistance are being by-passed. His defences are being reduced one by one as the Russians press home their offensive. Moscow radio states that the battles in the Donetz area are shifting gradually nearer to the centre of the Basin. This seems to confirm the Berlin assertion that a Russian offensive in the Central Donetz is in full swing. Berlin radio’s commentator, Captain Sertorius, says that the Russian offensive west of Kharkov has somewhat diminished but the intensity of the enemy’s pressure west of the Mius and between Sumy and the Moscow-Smolensk railway continues with undiminished violence. The British United Press’s Moscow correspondent emphasises that the Russians are thrusting westward north of Konotop towards the Desna River and have a chance of splitting the entire German front in two. The correspondent points out that a further Russian advance of only 25 miles will sever all direct rail communication between the Germans in the Kharkov and Donetz areas and the Germans on the central and northern fronts. The German News Agency, referring to the Russian’s new offensive in the Central Donetz, stated: “Hundreds of heavy batteries and strong air forces were flung in to wear down the German front. Fighting is now raging with unabated fury along the whole Russian front.”