ENCIRCLED GERMANS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 5 February 1944, Page 5

ENCIRCLED GERMANS

DESPERATE EFFORTS TO ESCAPE

Disaster in Ukraine Salient London, Feb. 4 More than 1 20,000 Germans are encircled in the huge pocket at Kanev, south of Kiev, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The air is filled with the rumble of Russian guns firing on the trapped Germans from all points of the compass. The enemy is resisting fiercely. Tanks which are without fuel are being dug in as gunsites, the remaining guns being established to cover individual strong points. The Germans are struggling to break out of the trap and are also trying to prepare to withstand a siege if they find escape is impossible. The trap at some points is nearly 40 miles wide and covers about 1000 square miles of steppe land and forest. The Germans, despite radio appeals from Hitler’s headquarters, have little chance of making a long stand.

Within the trap the Germans have only a few roads, and one stretch of railway. They are relying on an airfield outside the trap for Lutfwaffe support. JUs2’s are already dropping supplies for the doomed German divisions. German anti-aircraft positions inside the trap are not strong and the Russian Air Force is gaining control of the skies, and helping to blast away kevpcints in the German defence. General von Manstein meanwhile is counter-attacking north-west of Kirovograd and around Uman—two flanks south of the trap When the Red Army is free to switch the full weight of tanks and artillery into a double thrust to link up these sectors von Manstein may be faced with the prospect of being 1 penned in a second outer trap. Reuter's correspondent adds that the . flanks of the Red Army at Uman and j north-west of Kirovograd are already: making lunges aiming to bottle up the Germans remaining in the Dnieper! bend and cut the Odessa railway. I which is Hitler's lifeline hereabouts. A ] frontline dispatch to “Pravda” stated that German dead and piles of twisted wreckage of tanks are littered in the path of the Russian advance, w’hich has linked up General Vatoutin's and General Koniev’s armies, thereby trapping the enemy. The Germans are sending troops from Yugoslavia to Russia and Italy, replacing them with units from Greece and Bulgaria EVACUATION OF LUTSK The announcement of the evacuation of Lutsk on the anniversary of the Stalingrad disaster caused extreme depression in Berlin, according to a Stockholm message. It is observed that the distance from Stalingrad to Lutsk is 880 miles, while Lutak to Berlin is 520. A German communique makes no further comment. About the Dnieper encirclement it says Russian attacks continued without respite and the German battle group repulsed a concentric tank attack London. Feb. 3. Ankara radio quoting unconfirmed Turkish reports said Russian troops have already occupied Narva. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent, however. reports that General Govorov’s forces are almost at the gates of Narva. Another thrust towards the town is developing from the south from Slantsi, 15 miles from the north-east tip of Lake Peipus. Moscow radio stated that the Russians reached Narva river, which the German news agency admitted yesterday. The radio added that mopping-up operations against isolated German units in the Gulf of Finland coast is reaching the final stage. The enemj’ is fleeing panic-stricken. Later Moscow radio announced that the Russians have captured Slantsi. which has virtually closed the Narva gap to the Germans in the Luga region. Russian Baltic fleet Reuter says the clearing of the coast to the mouth of the Narva river has radically altered the position of the Russian Baltic fleet in the Gulf of Finland. The fleet has gained considerable freedom for manoeuvre and already seriously threatens sea communications between Finland and Germany. The Finnish-held island of Lanansaari and the twin isles of Tyutarsaari. between Viborg and Narvabay are exposed to attack. Vichy radio quoting a mesage from Berlin says the news that Rovno and Lutsk were taken created a sensation among German military experts who stated: “It is disclosed that the Russians scored their success owing to numerical superiority.” Lutsk is onlv 46 miles from the line from which Hituer started the invasion of Russia in 1941.

The British United Press says the capture of Lutsk means that the German defences in the Volhynia province must have collapsed.