NEW TRAP SET

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24825, 23 February 1944, Page 5

NEW TRAP SET

PSKOV JSALIENT FLEEING GERMANS PUESUIT BY RED ARMY ADVANCE TOWARD DNO (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON. Feb. 21 A new Russian trap threatens to wipe out the German salient east of Pskov and open a road to the Baltic States, says the Moscow correspondent of the British United Press. While two sections of the Red Army are tnrusung tne long arras of a classical pincers movement around Dno, an important railway junction half-way between Staraya Russa and Pskov, other forces are driving the Germans retreating from Staraya. Russa westward into this trap. Reuter's correspondent in Moscow reports that three Russian armies are speeding up the assault on Dno, where the Germans are expected to organise their last resistance before Pskov. The Red Army is crashing through the German defences north of Dno and has advanced between 10 and 15 miles nearer the town. One Russian army is now 25 miles north-west of Dno, while a second army advancing from the north-east is 30 miles away, and a third Russian force is steadily pressing on from Staraya Russa.

More Places Occupied "The Russians south-west and south of Luga," states a Soviet communique, "fought their way into a number of localities and, south-west, west and south of Lake Ilmen, continued the offensive and occupied Soltsa, a district centre in the Leningrad region, and Kholm, a district centre in the Kalinin region, also the railway station at Nizy and 100 inhabited localities." The raihvay between Staraya Russa and Shimsk, 30 miles to the northwest, is in Russian hands. Reuter's correspondent states that two of the three Russian armies which are combining in the drive against Pskov have linked up in a broad aro and are now converging from tha north-west, north-east and east for tha assault against Dno, the most powerful eastern outpost of Pskov. German Lines Penetrated The Germans are falling back to Dno at an increasing pace, rolling out log barriers and dynamiting bridges over the river of ice in their efforts' to delay the oncoming Russians, but they are " suffering heavily in men and material. _ ( ; The Berlin radio military commentator admits the German retreat on the Lake Ilmen front, also the fact that the Germans south of Krivoi Rog are engaged in bitter defensive battles. The German High Command spokesman in Berlin said: "The withdrawal of the bulk of the German forces between Lake Peipus and Lake Ilmen is continuing according to plan. The pressure of the Russian forces converging on Pskov is increasing. The German command has succeeded in stabilising the Narva front. Fighting is increasing in violence along the whole of the northern sector. We warded _ off most of the Russian attacks, hut bitter fighting is going on at several points where' the Russians have penetrated the German lines." Heavy Enemy Losses

A special Russian communique, summarising the month's offensive on the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, says that the Russians advanced from 90 to 155 miles, killed more than 90,000 Germans, took 7200 prisoners, and destroyed 97 planes and 275 tanks. The booty listed includes 189 tanks, 1852 guns. 42,000 rifles, 1,000,000 shells, 17,000.000 rounds of ammunition, 2648 lorries and 615 railway waggons. The Berlin radio speaks to-day of a cold wave sweeping the entire Russian front, with temperatures 10 degrees below zero.

NO OIL FOR SPAIN WASHINGTON'S FIRM STAND; OTHER SANCTIONS PROBABLE (Reed. 9.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Feb. 23 The United States Government has decided to continue the oil embargo against Spain during March, says the Washington correspondent of the New York Tones. It is also prepared to list other economic sanctions should the oil embargo prove inadequate. Thus Washington has demonstrated its intention of no longer tolerating Franco's help to Germany. it ■was Loudon pressing for sterner action against Franco while Washington was hesitating, but now the two Governments have reversed roles. Britain is reported to favour acceptance of a facesaving compromise offered by Franco, but Washington wants a complete cessation of Spanish help to Germany. MEMBER OF FALANGE UNITED STATES ACTION (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 Branding the Spanish Falange as a subversive movement, the AttorneyGeneral Mr. Francis Biddle, filed a suit to revoke the citizenship of Isidor Fernandez, 40-year-old naturalised American, who joined the Falange in 1938. Mr. Biddle said that Fernandez had advocated the totalitarian form of government and subscribed to other Falangist principles inimical to democracy. The Attorney-General described the Falange as the prototype in Spain of the Fascist and Nazi parties. Fernandez was born in Spain and became an American citizen in 1942. It is the first de-naturalisation case against a Falangist, but Mr. Biddle indicated that others would follow. PENICILLIN FOR BURMA (Reed. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 22 The first shipment ot penicillin has reached Calcutta on its way to the front in Burma and Clnna. The consignment ia valued at ifia/o,uw.