LAST HOURS COME

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 17 April 1944, Page 2

LAST HOURS COME

NO ESCAPE PORT LEFT demoralised axis forces barges and transports sunk (Rec. 110 am) London, April 16. The last "Dunkirk'' p"ri left to the Germans except Sebastopol has fallen. Yalta, whose capture is reported in M. Stalin's order of the day is on the south-east coast of the Crimea. Its harbour has good piers able to accommodate fairsized ships The Oermarfs captured Yalta in November, 1941. The port's fall seals the fate of the Germans sandwiched between General Tolbukhin's and General Yeremenkos forces in the mountains of the Crimea and the Riviera coast. The last hours of Sebastopol have come declares the British United Press Moscow correspondent. The Russians have not omy swamped the northern and eastern suburbs oui have taken the vital airport ol' Katche in the vicinity of Sebastopol. They also control every road leading to the port. Sebastopol's waterfront, the chief concentration point for the demoralised Axis forces, presents a scene of fantastic "chaos. Great columns ot' black smoke are pouring out to the sea Irom fuel dumps and warehouses which the Red Air Force set on fire, while Sebastopol harbour and the naval base anchorages have been turned into a graveyard for sunken barges and transports which have been dive-bombed as they tried to escape tilled with troops. The attempted evacuation has become a massacre. Thousands of Germans and Rumanians who boarded tiie ships were kiLed oy bombs or drowned. Many of them were trapped like rats between the decks when the ships went down. The Germans have no air defence, since the capture of Katcha airfields, which was laiien in a lightning thrust by a Red Army column detached from the main advance towards Sebastopol. Yalta is about 36 mile seast of Sebastopol and 30 miles south of Simferopol and was occupied on Thursday. It is connected with these towns by highways and is about 17 miles south-west of the harbour of Alushta. ocupied on Friday. It had a pre-war population of over 30,000 and was famous as a spa. attracting over 250.000 of people yearly. Nearby are the famous Tsarist estates which alter the revolution were transformed into sanatoria. RAIN OF BOMBS London, April 16. Under a lain of Russian bombs the German attempt to evacuate Sebastopol si ill goes on. The German Command is making a supreme effort to save something from the wreckage of the Crimean army before the Russians pour into the town. Nevertheless weakening anti-aircraft fire shows that German resistance is beginning to slacken. A correspondent expresses the opinion that when the finale of the tale is told it will reveal that Germany saved only a small proportion of her Crimean troops. The remainder are prisoners or dead along the hundreds of miles of roads of retreat from Kerch and Perekop. Despairing German soldiers who do reach Sebastopol docks arc finding little but burling Seaworthy ships are growing fewer and fewer. “Loot to the last” is the motto of some of the Axis troops rushing back towards Sebastopol. Frontline reports cite a typical case of capture. Two sergeants, one German and one Rumanian, were both carrying heavy haversacks despite their need for speed. The German’s haversack held a sewing machine, and the Rumanian carried 43 forks, 27 knives and a pair of worn children’s shoes. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that by common consent Red Army veterans who two years ago defended Sebastopol have been given the chance to be the first to re-enter the city. Sebastopol’s girl defenders arc there too with the Red Army directing military traffic to Sebastopol. The Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain reports that Red Army guns on the hills outside Sebastopol have joined the Red Air Force in bombarding the last Rumanians and Germans retreating towards the shell-blasted docks in the southern area of Sebastopol. TARNOPOL SECTOR With the seizure of Tamo, Hitler’s •‘gateway to the Reich,” activity is beginning to liven up 0 n Marshal Zhukov’s First Ukrainian Front, says Reuter’s correspondent. Heavy clashes are going on below Tarnopol as Zhukov tests the strength of the reinforced German divisions preparatory to a new offensive. A correspondent quotes “Red Star” as saying that a general flare-up along the whole Carpathians and the lower Dniester front can be expected after the Crimean clean-up. Newspapers point out that the ground in some of the sectors is drying up and that the whole area will soon be able to bear heavy mechanised equipment. REFUSAL TO SURRENDER Reuter's correspondent also states that the Germans at Tarnopol were given the chance to surrender but refused, after which the battle was a slow house-to-house fight to the death. To-night’s Soviet communique says the Red Army in the Kishinev sector forced the Dniester river at a number of points, established bridgeheads on the west bank, and are now fighting for an extension thereof. Russians south of Tyraspol forced the Dniester and captured several inhabited places and are now fighting for an extension of The bridgeheads. The communique repeated the order of the day on Yalta and added that troops of the Independent Maritime Army also fought their way into 40 other places. The German news agency commentator. von Hammer. say s while a comparative lull is reigning on the front between the Dniester and the Pruth the Russians are reinforcing, and important regrouping manoeuvres are going on. Von Hammer re-emphasised the scale of the Russian movements in the northern sector.” The Russians have constantly attempted a breakthrough south of Pskov, but we repelled the attacks.”