German Grip On Nikolayev Is Killed By Encirclement

Northern Advocate, 16 March 1944, Page 5

German Grip On Nikolayev Is Killed By Encirclement

Russians Force Bug; 25Mis. From Rumania

(Received 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 15. THE RUSSIANS HAVE FORCED A CROSSING OF THE 1 RIVER BUG ON A 60-MILE FRONT AND ADVANCED TO WITHIN 25 MILES OF RUMANIA.

Smashing- through the German defences on the western bank of the river, the Russians captured 100 places and advanced 12 to 18 miles. At one point they are only seven miles from the Lwow-Odessa railway.

The new trap in Snegirovka area is the Kanev encirclement over again, says the British United Press Moscow correspondent. The Germans’ catastrophe resulted from von Manstein’s insistence on maintaining his lines when withdrawal was possible, the same pattern being followed with the Germans outside the ring trying to break in to the rescue. The Red Air Force and mobile artillery now are pounding the'encircled troops who are pinned down in an area of 230 square miles. The encirclement seems to have killed von Manstein’s hopes of holding Nikolayev. He has not only lost a big proportion of his forces for defending the city, but Nikolayev is on the east bank of the Bug River, for which reason the Germans will have to fight with a wide river at their rear cutting off their retreat in the event of the Russians breaking through. While three Russian columns are closing in on Nikolayev from the east, a combined cavalry and tank force is moving along the north shore of the Dnieper Inlet westwards, thereby cutting off Nikolayev from the Black Sea. The Associated Press Moscow correspondent says the,most urgent threat to Nikolayev is from the Russians moving southwards towards the city from Shirokaya-Balka, which was captured yesterday. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent reports that the Red Army, in the past 24 hours, advancing at high speed, extended their grip on the Bug River and now hold a 65mile stretch in the Uman region. Powerful spearheads are bearing down against a 30-mile stretch of the Bug above Pervomaisk, also against Novourkroinka. The attack is developing over an 80-mile front against these two points.

Kherson Most Plundered

Kherson was the most plundered city of all he had seen liberated from the Germans, says a “Pravda” reporter. The Red Army burst in too quickly for the Germans to set fire to the whole town, but the enemy blew up port installations, a power plant, grain elevator. flour mill and railway station. Almost every house in Kherson was sacked and furniture and clothing, even crockery and glassware, were stolen. What the Germans could not carry away they destroyed.

approaches to Nikolayev before trying to fight a way across the Bug.

Von Manstein is faced with a crisis such as he has not experienced throughout the winter campaign, states the Moscow correspondent of Associated Press. It is firmly believed in Moscow that von Manstein. having lost the last natural defence line, will not make a further determined stand until the Red Army contacts the Dniester. The Russians have severed all German sea communications with Nikolayev, having reached the mouth of the Bug and established artillery positions controlling all exits to the Black Sea. The only large port now available to the Germans is Odessa, which they are believed to be preparing to evacuate. The German-controlled Stockholm Telegram Bureau quotes well-informed circles in Berlin as stating that the German High Command believedly. intends to evacuate all territory, eastof the Bug.

Flushed With Victory

The reporter continues: “The Russians. advancing over the 400-mile Ukraine front, are gripped with a spirit of victory perhaps unmatched since Napoleon’s armies at the height of their glory. The Red Army is inspired with one aim—to force the Bug. free Odessa and reach the Dniester. This thought lends wings to their tired feet. The Russians who, after exhausting marches, dive to the river to find a damaged telephone cable or after 24 hours without sleep, wade a waistdeep river and fight on the other side — these are very real factors in the' Russian victories. A Russian general, who is described as far from sentimental said, ‘ I can’t stop the men.’ ” Mud Best Ally

List of Successes

News of the big Russian advance across the Bug River is contained in tonight’s Soviet communique. It says that troops of the second Ukrainian front, south-west of Uman, forced the Bug River along a 60-mile front and after breaking resistance on the west bank of the river, advanced 12 to 18 miles, capturing Trostyanets. 48 miles south-west of Uman, across the Bug, and 43 miles from the Dniester.

“The crisis has come,” said General Dietmar broadcasting over Berlin radio. “A downright critical situation lias arisen on the eastern front. We undoubtedly will be able to master the crisis but some time must elapse because, in this terrific new battle, a quite unexpected new factor must be taken into account —mud.

They also captured Obodovka, 52 miles south-west of Uman, Olgopol, 18 miles across the Bug. and Bandurovka, 35 miles west-south-west of Gaivoron, 25 miles from Rumania, and seven miles from the Lwow-Odessa railway. The Russians also captured several railway stations across the Bug, including two on the railway line joining the Lwow-Odessa railway at Dudnitsa. The Red Army south of Uman cap? tured Slymka, 10 miles north of Novoukroinka, and west of Dolinsk the army captured over 50 inhabited places, including SoSevka, 35 miles west of Dolinsk.

“Virtues” of Retreat

Taking into account the Russian's numerical superiority, our policy is to inflict casualties rather than stand and fight, said a German military spokesman quoted by Berlin radio. According to Vichy radio, von Manstein’s tactics now are to disengage and move his armies to the rear. The Red Army would like to wage a war of annihilation but the Germans refuse it. When enemy pressure becomes too strong, the Germans evacuate. German radio this morning broadcast for overseas listeners a recording of Dietmar’s “downright crisis broadcast.”

The Russians in the Nikolayev sector captured the district centre and railway station of Snegirovka and the railway station of Kopany. Sixteen miles south-east of Nikolayev, an enemy group encircled in the area between Bereznegovati and Snegirovka is being cut into separate groups and successfully wiped out. The Russians in the Proskurov sector repelled major tank and infantry attacks and inflicted heavy losses of manpower and equipment. Also in the Vinnitsa sector the Russians developed (heir offensive, capturing the town and railway junction of Kalinovka, 14 miles north of Vinnitsa and Voronovitsa, 14 miles south-east of Vinnitsa. The Russians in the Vinnitsa sector also captured Ometintsy, 37 miles south-east of Vinnitsa, and six miles north of the Eug River, and Pilava, 12 miles south of Vinnitsa, and two miles north of the Bug River, besides 50 other places, including five railway stations all on" the KalinovkaKhristinovka railway.

Drawing. Ring Tighter The Red Army is drawing the ring tighter around trapped German divisions encircled in the Snegirovka area, 30 miles east of Nikolayev. reports the Moscow “Red Star. - ’ The divisions were ti’apped as a result of a Soviet break-through on a wide front. The Germans Avere outflanked and then surrounded, the enemy suffering enormous losses as his desperate efforts to break out of the trap were shattered. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that while the massacre of mother German army has begun on the southern corner of the Dnieper Bend, other desperate battles, with an equally fatal outcome for the Germans, are imminent unless von Manstein can stage a last-minute stand on the eastern