WARSAW NO LONGER EXISTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 27 September 1944, Page 5

WARSAW NO LONGER EXISTS

■ COMPLETELY OBLITERATED SAYS 1 BERLIN I London, Sept. 25. Warsaw has ceased to exist. It is ’ obliterated as no other town has ever j been, said the German news agency j war reporter over Berlin radio. The last nest of resistance in the city which 1 stretched over a few hundred yards s along the north bank of the Vistula has > been silenced. Russian troops who - penetrated Praga district came too late to prevent the collapse of the rising inside the city. With this rising War--1 saw itself has died. The city is nothing 2 but a heap of rubble. The Germans * mowed down Russian relief forces ' which approached in assault boats, and ? a bridge across the Vistula is again in ‘ German hands. Although the Russian attempt to 1 build a bridge across the Vistula fnilf ed they are going to try it again. ' EARLY END OF WAR I NO EASY OPTIMISM IN MOSCOW 3 London, Sept. 26. t The Allies should prepare for another winter campaign against Germany, says Alaric Jacob, “Daily Express” Moscow r correspondent. Another winter cam- " Paign is anticipated by authoritative writers in Moscow. He says: “there is no easy optimism about an early end of the war, despite the latest Red Army triumphs in the Baltic and the Balkan States. >4 The Germans are confident of being able to hold out for some time. If they were not would they keep 10 divisions in Italy and five in Norway when the Allies are attacking Germany . from the east and west? Allied com- ; munications are now very long while 1 Germany’s are short. German aircraft - and anti-aircraft defences and artillery ? can now be massed into a smaller area 5 to protect vital points. Germany no l longer has 300 up-to-strength divisions ■ but her army is still 'very large and * has the incentive of fighting for home ’ territory and the advantage of knowing ! the terrain. r “The Allies in France and Belgium ; and the Red Army got enormous bene- ) fit from Patriot forces. In Russia Patriots were linked by air with the * Red Army so the Soviet Command 1 usually knew the enemy’s battle forma- \ tion precisely and all his weaknesses. * The Red Army still has this advantage in Poland but in Germany itself there I are no patriots to help the Allies and . intelligence work will become harder. ; Opportunity for spectacular advances such as the Russians’ drive through the Balkans are ending. Delay in entering East Prussia is because East Prussia is * packed with Germans. The capture of Konigsberg and Cologne will be a different proposition from reaching Paris, Bucharest or even Budapest.”