Red Army Making Straight for Harbin

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 191, 14 August 1945, Page 5

Red Army Making Straight for Harbin

Received Monday, 11.20 p.m. LONDON, August 13.

Marshal Malinovsky with two major forces across the mountains is developing a double drive over the Manchurian Plain, says Agency correspondents in Moscow. The flrst drive is making straight for Harbin down the railway and the other appears to be developing in the general direction of the road leading to Mukden. Armoured formations and cavalry are now pouring across the mountains and pushing the Japanese back to the plain where defence is much more difficult. Moscow military observers express the opinion that now that Malinovsky has succeeded in bringing his armour over the mountains, he will rapidly cover the distance on the plain and carry the battle to the western gates of Harbin. Another Red Army force following up the landings on the Korean mainland is pushing down the coastal highway. Marshal Meretzov’s forces advancing against Harbin from the east are menacing the big junction of Ninan from the north and south and even threatening to bypass it on the north. The airfield northeast of Ninan has been neutralised. Another arm of this force is moving towards the Korean frontier to join in the battle started at the coast ports. The Russian landings at Yukiwan were made in a storm so heavy that the Japanese believed the operation impossible and were taken completely by surprise. The Russian assault troops carried out the operation from ships hidden off the coast in the darkness. The Japanese are reported to he in a panic and are abandoning arms and munitions and supplies. Secret documents and maps captured show that the Japanese converted Yukiwan into a fairly large air and naval base. The Tokio radio says seaborne Russians have begun landings on Karafuto (the southern portion of the island of Sakhalin) at Anabetsu near the border and Esutoro, 60 miles south of the border.