MAJOR PRIZE IN POLAND

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

MAJOR PRIZE IN POLAND

CAPTURE OF SARNY ! (Rec - 12.20 p.m.) London, Jan. 12. The Red Army claimed the first major prize in Poland Vitb the capture of Sarny. The Moscow correspondent of the British Uniti cd Press, before the announcement I of the capture of Sarny, stated that Germans ound the town were

t counter-attacking more strongly - than at any time since the push inI to Poland began. He pointed out 1 that a 30-mile stretch of the im--1 portant Lwow-Vilna railway had ■ come under Russian control with the capture of Sarny, ) Sarny, which is the most westerly point the Red Army has so far reached, is 30 miles west of the old Polish border. It is the junction of two main 1 railways—the Kiev-Warsaw trunk line and the north-south railway from Vilna . to Rovno. 2 The British United Press reports that l powerful Red Army tank and infanl try forces are moving down towards th«^ , River Bug along a 100-mile front as the r Germans bring up increasing reserves 1 in a last desperate effort to hold Gen- ) eral Vatoutin back from the Rumanian - frontier. The correspondent expresses l the view that some of the fiercest fight- - ing of the whole campaign may be exl pected in the next 24 hours in a decist ive action which should seal the fate of t all the German armies in south Russia. 5 Russian forces which captured Nemit rovo have already outflanked from the f south the great railway town of Vin- - nitsa, on the river Bug. Nemirovo is r only a few miles east of the Bug and i battles for the first crossings may be al- 1 ready going on. The Russians approaching the Bug south of Vinnitsa are little more than 20 miles from the vital Odessa-Lwow railway. The Bug river still lies between the Red Army and ■ the railway which is one of the most important objectives of the whole west Ukrainian campaign. The Germans are expected to light hard for the Bug line in view of Its tremendous military and political importance.