THE KIEV OFFENSIVE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 8 January 1944, Page 5

THE KIEV OFFENSIVE

CRACK GERMAN TANK CORPS ROUTED

Red Army Advance on Broad Front

London, Jan. 7. Ai new Russian offensive at the northern end of the Dnieper bend is reported over Axis-controlled radio stations. According to Vichy radio the new Russian offensive expected in the Cherkassy region has been unleashed in the Kirovograd and Krivoi Rog sectors, obviously aimed at forcing the Germans to evacuate the great Dnieper bend. The radio broadcast a late dispatch from Berlin claiming that the greatest tank battle during the war has just concluded north of Krivoi Rog with a defensive German success. Heavy fighting is going on in the Vitebsk area in addition to the entire Dnieper bend. The centre of gravity of the fighting is in the area west of Jitomir. . Moscow “Pravda” says the most important result of (general Vatoutin’s Kiev offensive has been the rout of crack German tank divisions, including the Hermann Goering and the Das Reich divisions. This is particularly significant, as these divisions admitted only* real Germans—genuine Nazis trained in murder and taught to hold out in the darkest hour. Their losses were so huge that only six or eight men remained in some companies.

General Vatouti»'s column is pressing on rapidly from Berdichev over a broad front against the old Polish border says a British United Press correspondent. This column captured Novomiropol. halfway between Berdiand Shepetovka, and by the capture of Zozov is now only 25 miles east-north-east of Vinnitsa. Other places captured by the Russians include the rail station of Lipovets, 23 miles east of Vinnitsa and 20 miles from the German escape railway leading from the Dnieper bend and Odessa to Poland. Agencies also specifly the capture of Rovno. on the railway from Berdichev to Brest-Litovsk. A Russian communique reports the capture of Shashkov, 35 miles due south of Byelayatserkov, Chodorkov, 28 miles south-west of Jitomir, and Gorodnitsa, which is the terminus of the railway line on the old Polish frontier 20 miles north-west of Novograd Volynsk. A front-line correspondent in a dispatch to “Izvestia” says: “I have not seen a single position, road, trench, or foot of soil in the path of our troops advancing bej'ond Jitomir and Berdichev that does not bear traces of our shells. The voice of war can be heard everywhere as ever-growing columns of Russian guns and infantry march down the roads.” ENEMY RETREAT INDICATED “We shall not hold Russian territory merely for prestige reasons,” a German military spokesman told the Stockholm Telegraph Bureau’s Berlin correspoadent. "If circumstances force a total retreat from Russia this would be a secondary consideration,” added the spokesman. “Our first aim is to maintain an unbroken front.” The correspondent interprets the statement as indicating that a new large-scale German retreat is imminent THE NEVEL SECTOR London, Jan. 6. To-night’s Russian communique says, the Red Army north of Nevel continued the offensive and captured several inhabited places. Troops of the First Ukrainian Front captured Rokitno, 12 miles west of the old Polish border, and Chudnov, a district centre in the Jitomir region, and also captured a district centre in the Rovno region besides over eight other inhabited places. The British United Press emphasises that the Russian capture of Rokitno is the first official Russian intimation that General Vatoutin’s forces are across the old Polish border. Enemy sources continue to play up the magnitude of the Russian tank attrack east of Kirovgrad. One Berlin commenta or called it the greatest tank brttle of the winter campaign. Berlin, through its overseas service, which the German people do not hear, forecast vast new retreats comparable with those of last summer and autumn when the Germans fell back 350 miles from Kursk. The military commentatoi', Hallensleben, said: "Elastic defence and defence everywhere are again the order of the day for the High Command this winter. This probably means that the developments this winter will be similar to those seen during the summer and autumn in Russia. What does it matter if Russian territory is given up in order to preserve our army in view of the tasks facing the Wehrmacht elsewhere.”