POWERFUL PUSH

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24759, 6 December 1943, Page 3

POWERFUL PUSH

SOVIET SPEARHEADS

ON BEYOND DOVSK

WHITE RUSSIAN AREA

BIG OBSTACLES AHEAD (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 5 The battle for White Russia is mounting in intensity. The Soviet armies are still pushing their powerful spearheads deep into the new German defence zone. They have widened the scope of their offensive by striking out north-west of Propoisk toward Mogilev. The Russians have already made good progress in this direction, in spite of the heavy going across marshy and thickly-wooded country. Moscow announces the rapture of Dovsk, an important centre of communications on the east hank of the Dnieper River, from which roads radiate to Mogilev, Rogachev and Gomel. Dovsk is less than 20 miles from Rogachev. On this sector of the front Russian forces have outmanoeuvred and outfought von Kluge's troops for the possession of more than 100 places. Germans Pour Across River General Rokossovsky's men are steadily forcing the Germans toward the upper reaches of the Dnieper. One Soviet column is now within 14 miles of Rogachev and another is only eight miles away from Jlohin. The News Chronicle correspondent in Moscow says the Germans are now pouring to the west across the Dnieper to the two strongholds of .Jlohin and Mogilev and the Russian drive seems likely to be checked for the time being when it brings them to the river. He adds that the Dnieper is very wide in this sector and, backed on the west by the two strong bases, it is likely to prove a tough obstacle. A Moscow communique says that the Russians north-west of Propoisk occupied several inhabited localities. Northwest of Gomel they occupied 30 inhabited localities, including the railway centre of Khalch, eight miles southeast of Jlohin. The Russians are advancing steadily between the Dnieper and Bcresina Rivers and between the Beresitia and the Pripet. Significance of the Fall ol Dovsk The attack on Dovsk began in the dark hours before dawn with an intense artillery bombardment which disabled the eneinv batteries and mowed down barbed wire defences. Soviet infantry and mobile troops rushed through the gaps under cover of a moving barrage. The Russians have completed the regrouping and reinforcement of their artillery in this sector, and further rapid progress is expected at many points. The Germans have been thrown back on natural defence lines, where they are striving to dig in. Reuter's Moscow correspondent says the capture of Dovsk gives the Russians control of the main highway to Rogachev. He adds that the Germans in this area are losing enormous numbers of men in fruitless rearguard battles. The German bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnieper defending Jlohin and Rogachev is collapsing under attacks from three sides. The correspondent adds that the Germans on this bridgehead are hemmed in a small space on the cast bank of the Dnieper, where they have little room for manoeuvre and whence they have only one exit, the narrow railway bridge across the Dnieper to Jlohin. FIGHTING INSIDE BEND MORE GERMAN WITHDRAWALS (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Doc. 5 The Russians in the Dnieper bend have flung back several strong German counter-attacks against their Cherkasy bridgehead. Soviet forces fanning out on a 40-mile front west and south-west of Kremenchug have dislodged the enemy from several strongpoints, and are steadily increasing their threat to the railway junction of Snamenka. The Germans have been forced to make withdrawals. The Germans still hold nearly 50 miles of the river line, however, between Snamenka and the Russian bridgehead just above Cherkasy. Soviet guerillas are playing a very useful part in the battle for Snamenka by raiding enemy-occupied villages and generally hampering German attempts to regroup and bring up reserves. Increasing pressure by the Red Army at both ends of the Cherkasy-Kremen-chug sector is forcing the Germans to fight a miniature war on two fronts. German reinforcements are pouring into the Cherkasy garrison and staging counter-attacks in an effort to prevent the encirclement of Cherkasy.