BATTLES IN BEND

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24748, 23 November 1943, Page 3

BATTLES IN BEND

NEW SOVIET ATTACKS ENEMY COUNTER-MOVES FAIL BIG BATTLE AT CHERKASY (Reed. 11.20 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 22 The Russians have broadened their front inside the Dnieper bend with a new break-through south of Kremenchug. where the Germans have been counter-attacking strongly to try to check the Russian drive. The Russians broke the attacks and killed 3000 men.

This new drive has made great strides in the past 24 hours and Red Army troops coming down the roads and railways south-west of Dnepropetrovsk are now more than halfway to Apostolovo. The Germans say the Red Array is also attacking strongly at the southern end of the Dnieper bend, where the Germans still hold a bridgehead across the river from Nikopol. There is no mention of these attacks from Moscow. Determined Soviet Bid The Berlin radio reports that the Russians have flung in 12 infantry divisions, three tank brigades and a regiment of shock troops against this bridgehead. It also says that the Russians north of Krivoi Hog have thrown in 36 infantry divisions and several tank corps against the German lines.

The British United Press correspondent in Moscow states that the Red Army is launching efforts with particular determination against Cherkasy. Russian gun ambuscades on the main roads to Cherkasy are taking heavy toll of German reserves which are being rushing up from other areas. The Red Army is throwing in more and more troops across the Dnieper against Cherkasy and German defence positions are gradually falling into Russian hands. The capture of Cherkasy would, with Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk, give the Russians three great Dnieper bases from which to strengthen their offensive into the Western Ukraine. Heavy German Losses The Moscow radio states that the Russian offensive at Cherkasy is particularly important. It adds that the Germans are suffering irreparable losses in attempting to check this advance. Moscow despatches say that the new battles which have opened up in the south may lead to important changes in the front.

The Berlin radio says that the German troops in Russia are fighting the hardest battle the Germans have ever fought for their existence. The Russian winter threatens them. German soldiers, with sacred sobriety, face an agonising period of death, darkness and blizzards.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

BRITISH REPRESENTATIVE SOVIET MEMBER ALSO CHOSEN (Reed. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON. Nov. -21 It is officially announced that Sir William Strang has been appointed United Kingdom representative on the European Advisory Commission, which has been set up in accordance with the agreements of the Moscow Conference. His indefatigible help at every stage of the Moscow Conference, where he was, as Mr. Eden said, the "brilliant Foreign Office leader of our team," has also been recognised by the award of K.C.M.G.

The British representative on the commission will have rank as Ambassador.

The chief Russian representative will be M. Fyodor Gusev, Soviet Ambassador in London. It is suggested in London that the commission may hold its first meeting toward the end of this week. Sir William Strang, who has been Assistant Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign Office since 1939, was born in 1893 at Endletield, Berkshire. England. He has a special knowledge of Russia. He served during the last war with the -Ith Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. He entered the Foreign Office in 1919, and has held various posts of importance since then, including acting-Counsellor of the Embassy in Moscow. DUKE OF WINDSOR HINT OF RETIREMENT OFFICIAL DENIAL GIVEN NEW YORK, Nov. 21 The Duchess of Windsor is reported to be urging the Duke to buy a farm in the eastern United States and settle down as a country squire, says the North American Newspaper Alliance. The Duke is said to be retiring shortly from the Governorship of the Bahamas. It is known that ho recently declined the post of Governor of Bermuda. His friends say the Duke is unhappy in the Bahamas and feels that he has now accomplished all lie can for the colony.

The Duke and Duchess are returning j to the Bahamas from New York after ! eight weeks' absence. A spokesman for the Duke denied the I report that His Royal Highness was 1 retiring shortly from the Governorship jof the Bahamas. Fie added that the ' Duke was entirely at the disposal of ! the British Government for the duration |of the n nr, and was willing to serve ! in any wartime role at the request of His Majesty or his old friend Mr. | Churchill. However, said the spokesman, the Duke in the final analysis regarded himself as a free agent and master of his fate. He did not expect to spend the rest of his life in the Bahamas, as he did not think the climate was suitable for residence there all the year round, but he was not planning to buy a farm in the United States. GALLIPOLI VETERAN GENERAL PATON'S DEATH SYDNEY. Nov. 2'2 The death is announced of MajorGeneral John Paton, at the age of 76. He commanded the Seventh Australian Imperial Force Brigade on Gallinoli and was in command of the rearguard at the evacuation. General Baton was <o/>o<irl in command at the Allied landing in German New Guinea in the first world war and led the small expedition which seized the Komet, the first enemy warship captured >by the Australian forces. <