ENEMY FORCES ROUTED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 10 January 1944, Page 5

ENEMY FORCES ROUTED

GENERAL KONIEV'S SUCCESSES A supplementary Russian communique says that in the break-through on the Kirovograd sector, the second Ukrainian front troops after crossing the Ingul occupied the locality of Gruznoye and cut the railway line from Kirovograd to Novoukrania. Others occupied the railway station of Lelekovka and to the south of this railway station joined troops advancing from the south-west. Thus, the Russian troops completely encircled Kirovograd as well as the German units defending the town. Enemy formations outside the town have been routed, and are abandoning arms and war material. A large number of prisoners has been captured. Till the beginning of the New Year the Germans had the initiative in the ■ector. attacking with 100 tanks at a time in an effort to recapture Zna-! menka. General Koniev let the Germans disperse their exhausted forces, and then hit back, his offensive opening on Wednesday. Sunken roads, woods and gullies enabled General Koniev to take up his initial positions in secrecy, completely baffling enemy reconnaissance, while groups of tanks and motor cycles daily ambushed enemy reinforcements in the area. GERMAN DEFENCES PIERCED The offensive began with a storm of artillery fire, blasting great gaps in the German defences. Soviet tanks then rushed through the gaps and intersected the system of roads which connected numerous German strongholds in the area. After this, the Soviet main forces were able to increase their pressure on the German flank and widen the breach. Scores of local German garrisons were surrounded and wiped out in the first few hours. An avalanche of guns, tanks and infantry rolled down from the area of Znamenka to the eastern approaches of Kirovograd, swung westward and bypassed the city from north and south. Other troops who had been placed in a position nearer Kirovograd then crossed the River Ingul and cut off the German escape routes to the west.