SOVIET FORCES TAKE SARNY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 13 January 1944, Page 5

SOVIET FORCES TAKE SARNY

GERMAN SUPPLY LINE CUT Major Battle Along Bug River SUFFER ENEMY RESISTANCE IN SOUTH (Rec. 9.45 a.m.) Rugby, Jan. 12. The capture of Sarny was announced by M. Stalin in an order of the day to General Vatoutin, which states that troops on the first Ukrainian front, having crossed the River Sluch yesterday, too* by storm the town of Sarny, a large railway junction and important stronghold of German defences in the Polessy region. . To-night’s Moscow communique announces a new offensive north of the Pripet Marshes in the direction of Mosir. In two days fighting Red Army troops penetrated on an 18-mile front to a depth of eight miles. The German eastern armies' north-to-south supply line from the Baltic Sea to Rumania has been cut by the Red Army on both sides of Sarny, 35 miles inside the pre-war Polish border. That junction, which is being shelled from five miles away by thd semiencircling Russians, is now practically useless to the enemy, who are facing serious dislocation of their supply system for this part of the front. The Russians have made a big advance south-west of Novograd Volynsk, taking them to a point 1 2 miles from Shepetovka, the junction on the Warsaw-Odessa line. On the southern front of General Vatoutin s offensive the Germans are making a desperate attempt to guard this railway, and a major battle is developing along the River Bug. The Germans have thrown substantial tank and infantry reinforcements across the river. Though the Russians have not yet managed to cross the half-frozen river they are steadily extending their grip along the bank and are now 12 or 15 miles from Jmerinka junction.