FLAMING EAST FRONT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 21 April 1945, Page 5

FLAMING EAST FRONT

BATTLE GROWS IN INTENSITY FANATICAL GERMAN RESISTANCE London, April 20. Russian dispatches from the flaming front north-east, east and south-east of Berlin to-day continued to describe the operation as a drive rather than an offensive, reports the Associated Press of Great Britain correspondent in Moscow. They intimated that the battle is growing in fury and intensity as troops push deeper into the heart of Germany, encountering fanatical resistance at every yard.

The German News Agency says: “Our defensive front everywhere has withdrawn from the Oder River. Soldiers defending Berlin have been flghling for over five days without sleep. The struggle goes on day and night relentlessly. There is only time to snatch a meal arid half-smoke a cigarette between the wave A of murderous battle. The whole of the Oder front is ablaze. Innumerable fires light up the night, with tracer bullets and searchlights scoring the «ky. Incessant Russian bomber and fighter attacks are clearing the way for the steamroller pushing on from the Oder basin battlefield to Brandenburg forest. The biggest decision of the war is being fought in the midst of this inferno.”