More Important Russian Successes

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 221, 17 September 1943, Page 5

More Important Russian Successes

Breakthrough Near Vital Railways (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—-Copyright.) Received Friday, 1 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 16. Thß Russians have broken through | the German lines at one point between | the railways from Kharkov to Krasno- ! grad and Losovaya, according to the j Red Star. The Moscow radio said a heavy Russian barrage on a narrow sector silenced enemy firing points and paved the way for the infantry. More Russian units were then flung into the gap which had been considerably widened and the Germans were forced to abandon several villages. The Russians developing their success captured i several large inhabited localities. ! Izvestia stated that a bitter battle is [ progressing in the Melitopol sector. | The Germans are flinging in large tank ! forces and suffering corresponding losses. The advancing Russians had to 1 overcome powerful German fortifica- ! tions. With the Russians still silent regard- ! ing the actual capture of Bryansk, 1 Moscow’s guns saluted the Red Army’s ■ feat of over-running Niejin, which is 1 one of the three great railway junctions on the approaches to the Dnieper. Correspondents report encouraging Russian progress towards the other two vital junctions—Poltava and Losovaya. The Russians’ capture of Niejin, which is the last important railway junction before Kiev, on the Konotop- : Kiev railway, cuts the last German- ! held lateral railway east of Kiev. It ! runs from Gomei to Kremenchug and | was the only railway the Germans had j anywhere near the front which they ; could use for switching troops north and south on the central sector. A British United Press correspondent says the Russians in the attack against two other vital junctions have already captured Mlokhvitsa (25 miles from the Poltava-Kiev railway) and are advancing determinedly against Losovaya from Barvenkova. The Russian forces are only 18 miles from Losovaya. Reuter’s correspondent emphasises that Niejin’s fall will greatly intensify the threat to Kiev, which is also increasingly endangered by the Russian thrust towards Priluki. The correspondent adds that the Germans realise the threat to Priluki and are throwing in fresh divisions in an attempt to regain the lost positions, but the P-ed Army still holds the initiative there. The British United Press says the fall of Bryansk threatens the entire German position north of the KiovKursk railway, because there is no natural defence line betv/een the Desna River, which traverses the town, and the Dnieper, 150 miles westward. It adds that the Russians are still pouring across the Desna River in the face of a murderous fire and constant divebombing. FURIOUS RIVER ASSAULTS The Red Star says the Germans south of Bryansk are fiercely attempting to prevent the Russians from crossing to the western hank of the Desna, but the Russians are streaming across the river in an unending flow for the third successive day to consolidate their bridgehead. The Germans launched 28 coun-ter-attacks in the past 24 hours with the object of reducing the Russian bridgehead, but the Russians withstood an intense bombardment from guns and bombers and repulsed all the counterattacks and continued to make progress. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent, commenting on the Desna fighting, says a struggle on a really gigantic scale is raging on the banks of the Middle Desna, which threatens to blow a hole in the entire German defence plan. The German High Command planned to hold the Desna as the final line of resistance for the winter, but the line has already been smashed at one point. The Berlin radio admitted that the Russians have penetrated the northeastern suburbs of Novorossisk on the Black Sea. The radio said: Fresh Russian forces, supported by artillery and tanks, continued their attacks in the northeastern suburbs of Novorossisk, but our troops frustrated the thrust. The radio also reported particularly fierce fighting southwest of Byeloi and said several divisions and numerous tanks again stormed the German lines and pierced them here and there. 4 4 The Russians broke into our lines at two points on the Roslavl-Moscow and Smo-lensk-Moscow highways, but the penetrations were neutralised.” Reuter, in a late dispatch from Mos cow, reports that fighting is going on in the streets of Romny (due east of Kiev), where the German resistance is holding up the drive against Priluki. The Russians have occupied Zasluie, one mile east of Romny. A Russian communique says Niejin was captured after two days of fierce fighting. It adds that in the Zaporozhe and Melitopol sectors the Russians advanced nine miles and captured over 60 inhabited places. The Russians in the Pavlograd sector advanced six to nine miles and captured over 120 places, including the railway station of Razdolnaya. The Russians on the Bryansk front captured the town of Dyatkovo, and those southwest of Kharkov advanced three to four miles and captured over 20 places; they also occupied several inhabited localities in the Priluki and Roslav’ sectors.