Jockeying For Positions On Carpathian Front

Northern Advocate, 26 April 1944, Page 5

Jockeying For Positions On Carpathian Front

(Rec, 1.30 p-m.) LONDON, April 25,

Livelier activity is reported today from the Carpathian front where both Germans and Russians are jockeying for positions in anticipation of a big clash.

The German News Agency’s commentator (von Hammer) sated that Marshal Zhukov's forces are now counter-attacking in considerable strength along the upper Pruth and the Carpathian foothills area, where Germans and Hungarians recently claimed local successes. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that before the present lull, a Soviet pincer movement was beginning against Lwow. The Germans are now trying to, improve their positions to resist a major Russian operation. There are signs of German nervousness from many sectors of the front, from Narva to the Czechoslovak frontier. Reuter points out that a renewed Russian offensive against Sebastopol, which was reported in Berlin but is not confirmed in Moscow, is evidently concentrated on a narrow sector between two Iti 11s where, according to German reports, Red Army tanks, artillery and planes temporarily breached the German defences, but the Germans succeeded in sealing up the breach and gaining a respite. The correspondent reports that the Red Air Force was intensely active over the Lwow front, also at Sebastopol. According to “Trud” the German command has started evacuating Constanta and will make Varna its Black Sea base.

Germans Lose 500,000

M. Manuilsky, member of the Executive Committee of the Communist Party, in a broadcast declared that 500,000 Germans were killed or captured on the southern front of Russia in March and April. The Red Army's maximum advance from the summer of 1943 to April 15, 1944, in various sectors ranged between 500 and 1200 miles.

The Russians recaptured 370 towns and over 65,000 inhabited places. "About four-fifths of occupied Soviet soil already has been recaptured. Red Army victories have facilitated the opening of large-scale military operations west and south which are being awaited with impatience all over the world.”

Tonight's Soviet communique again reports that no changes have occurred in any sector of S-e front. Long-range planes last night without loss attacked concentrations of military trains at Rezekne-Gulbene rail junctions in Latvia, setting fire to carriages. trucks and petrol tanks. From Land to Air Although. German sources arc statin." the lull nas ended ui .Sebastopol, and is about to end in the Narva and Pskov areas, also east of Vitebsk, reports from Moscow suggest that lor the moment, the war has 'moved from the land to the air, with the Red Air Force softening up the German lines in many widely-separated sectors. Reuter's .Moscow correspondent says that additional big guns have now been placed in position in the hills around Sebastopol, ready for a new, assault. Activity elsewhere mainly is confined to the Red Air Force. Military observers in Moscow say the Luftwaffe is maintaining its strength on the Russian front, but tne Red Air Force is doing belle! and is able to achieve superiority on any desired sector.

The spring thaw continues to hold up tlie war in the Carpathian foothills, where both sides are moving up fresh forces. ’’Pravcla” reports that torrents of water are roaring down tlie Carpathian valleys as mountain snows melt, causing floods which threaten to sweep away Soviet pontoons. This adds to the complications of operations in Rumania, making- an offensive still more difficult: Berlin radio slated tliaL strong- Russian forces are massing- in the Narva-Pskov area, also east of Vitebsk, and arc regrouping- on the more southern sectors irom Kowel to Ovidopol. The lull at Sebastopol ended yesterday, when Russian guns opened up and Russian planes reattneked. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says planes from both sides in Estonia and the western Ukraine are striking heavily against troop concentrations and supply lines in each other's rear.

Tonight's Soviet communique, for the third successive day, reports no material changes along the whole front, and adds that strong forces of Russian long-range planes last night, without loss, raided concentrations of German military and railway traffic at Lwow, causing fires and explosions. Planes of the Black Sea charm, continuously attacking German sea communications between Sebastopol and Rumanian ports, sank seven enemy transports totalling 16,000 tons, with troops being evacuated.