MOVING TO SPECTACULAR CLOSE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 15 April 1944, Page 5

MOVING TO SPECTACULAR CLOSE

Russians Massing for Death Blow PRISONERS NOW TOTAL OVER 31,000 London, April 14. I he Russians are massing for a death blow against the Germans squeezed into a pocket around Sebastopol, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The Crimean campaign is moving to a spectacular close. Russian heavy guns rolling through white dust are almost within range of Sebastopol. Tanks which were refuelled and rearmed after the dash to Simferopol were last reported 30 to 35 miles from Sebastopol pushing through the foothills directly to Sebastopol. Germans vainly struggling to hold up the Russians’ advance are being cut to pieces or surrendering in droves. Three-quarters of the peninsula is now under effective Russian control. Ihe remnants of the broken German and Rumanian forces are wandering over the steppe behind the onrushing mechanised units. Prisoners so far taken number over 31,000.

Advanced units of the Russian armies from the north and east joined up in the railway from Jankoi to Theodosia. The final battle of the campaign will be for Sebastopol. The capture of Eupatoria gives the Russians a springboard for seaborne operations against Sebastopol, which is under 40 miles southward. Moscow is now reckoning on the occupation of Sebastopol in days, but there may be fierce action among the hills as well as at the gate of the port, niqtie states that remnants of routed A Russian supplementary commuenemy units retreating from Ovidiopol have been pressed back against the Dniester Lagoon, where they are being continuously shelled and bombed. A large amount of booty has been captured in Simferopol and Eupatoria. where 2000 Germans were wiped out, including ten military trains laden with arms, munitions and other supplies, and more than 400 motor vehicles.