RUSSIANS STREAM THROUGH KIROVOGRAD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 10 January 1944, Page 2

RUSSIANS STREAM THROUGH KIROVOGRAD

ENEMY BEING GIVEN NO TIME TO REGROUP (Rec. noon) London, Jan. 9. Not pausing to rest on their laurels General Koniev’s forces which burst into Kirovograd have fanned out from the break-through point and arc now streaming westwards over a 70 mile front, leapfrogging forward without pause' in order to give the enemy no chance to regroup or make a stand. Moscow correspondents describe Kirovograd as one of the great decisive battles of the war. Meanwhile Marshal Vatoutin’s western-most spearhead is closing in on Sarny, one group live miles to the east and another group eight miles to the south-east of the town. The German-controlled Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau quotes a German military spokesman as saying: “From all fronts and storm centres it is confirmed that the present great retreat may be followed by an even greater one. The Russians are throwing in all their forces, not only to make territorial gains but also to crush and liquidate the whole front.” The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says Red Army infantry, tanks and artillery are pouring through Kirovograd in a never-ending stream to continue the battle against the retreating Germans. The Russians’ Kirovograd break-through threatens to drive one half of the German Dnieper bend army to the Black Sea and compress the other half against the southern side of the Russians’ salient in the Kiev bulge. A Red Army column, fanning out south-west from Kirivograd, has already progressed 25 miles, and another tank column, striking for Novoukroinka, will have completely outflanked the German position at Krivoi Rog when it gains that town. The correspondent concludes: “Thus far there is no sign of firm German resistance west of Krivoi Rog.” IMPORTANT PLACES CAPTURED (Rec. 12.30 p.m.) London, Jan. 9. The rapid Red Army progress in the Ukraine is shown by the capture of a number of important places announced in to-night’s Soviet communique. Troops of the First Ukrainian Front continued the offensive and captured the important rail station of Polonnoye, 20 miles east of Shepetovka, also Kagarlyk, 45 miles south of Kiev, Buki, 90 miles south of Kiev, and Krinnits, 30 miles north-west of Uman, Troops of the second Ukrainian Front captured Alexandrovka, a district centre of the Kirovograd region, besides over 40 inhabited places. DRIVE TOWARDS RUMANIA ? The fact that the Red Army forces are 30 miles north-west of Uman shows that Genera-? Vatoutin is driving clear across the German Dnieper bend army’s communication lines from the rear, says the British United Press correspondent. The “Daily Telegraph” points out that Polonnoye is situated in the Kame-nets-Podowsk region near the Rumanian border, indicating the beginning of a drive towards Rumania. REPORTED MESSAGE FROM HITLER Swedish correspondents report that German newspapers to-day, by tacit consent, avoid comment on the situation on the eastern front and confine themselves to leaders on the spread of Communism in North Africa. Correspondents add that Hitler is reported to have sent a message to German officers from his headquarters: “I order you not to yield a single inch of ground without making the enemy pay a terrible price. Every inch yielded brings the enemy an inch nearer German soil.”