TOWNS TAKEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24761, 8 December 1943, Page 3

TOWNS TAKEN

DNIEPER BEND AREA RUSSIANS^ADVANCE BATTLE FOB KAII/WAYS BIG THEEAT TO ENEMY (Reed. 9.50 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 7 The Russians south-west of Kremenchug in the Dnieper bend have captured Alexandria and Tsibulevo, thei*eby cutting the railway from Smela to Snamenka. They have also captured Daidakovka, five miles south of Alexandria and 18 heavilyfortified strongpoints. The cutting of the Smelo-Snamenka railway means that German reinforcements can no longer be sent by rail to Snamenka and the town's fall seems imminent. The Smela-Snamenka railway is the enemy's main retreat railway from the Dnieper bend. Tsibulevo is 16 miles north-east of Snamenka. Gains of Strategic Importance The new Russian attacks south-west of Kremenchug are threatening the whole railway system which supplies the Germans in this area. The News Chronicle correspondent in Moscow says Soviet troops have made gains of great strategic importance in the region of Snamenka. The whole of the railway between Kremenchug and a point seven miles east of Snamenka is now in Russian hands. Snamenka is also outflanked from the west and Russian columns have reached a point 10 miles northwest of it and five miles north of the near by railway junction of Kirovo, which is of equal strategic importance to Snamenka. The capture of either would finally close the bottleneck through which German supplies must come from the west to their armies inside the Dnieper bend. Railway Under Russian Fire The railway, in any case, is likely no longer to be available for supplies, the correspondent adds, as it is now too closely invested by the Russians and under fire of their guns. Should the Russians succeed in permanently cutting the small railway link between the two great rail systems they will have dealt a stroke likely to have a great effect on the whole strategic situation in the south Russia fighting. It is the lifeline of the German troops holding Nikopol. The German radio admitted that the Russians broke through the German lines south of Cherkasy. They claimed, however,, that the greater part of the Soviet force had been wiped out. Enemy sources emphasise that Russian efforts are mainly concentrated on the Dnieper bend. The German news agency commentator, von Hammer, admits "deep penetration by the Red Army on the Dnieper bend." Later von Hammer stated the German troops inside the bend had disengaged in the face of new Russian attacks and withdrawn to the main defence line.