HEAVY SHELLING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24832, 2 March 1944, Page 5

HEAVY SHELLING

STRUGGLE FOR PSKOV GERMAN OPPOSITION MANIY COUNTER-ATTACKS (Reed. 11.10 p.m.) LONDON, March 1 The Red Army is now fighting on the outskirts of Pskov, on the northern front. The battle for the city moved to its outskirts -when Russian artillery put up a concentrated barrage. intense shelling hour after hour prevented the enemy from bringing up his tanks and mobile guns. One report says all the railway lines from the city, except that to the west, are within range of the Soviet guns.

The Russian armies under Generals Govorov and Popov are massing for the opening stages of the final battle, says an earlier report. They have advanced to positions within six miles of the city from the north and to others ahout 12 miles to the east.

The German rearguard is fighting strongly. Roads are being mined, bridges blown up, and frequent counterattacks made. The enemy covering troops, however, are clearly inadequate to hold an offensive of such weight. The Russians are launching attack after* attack, and the Germans yesterday were driven and manoeuvred from more than 200 places round the sides of the semi-circle at the approaches to Pskov. Soviet Efforts to Cut Railway The Russian outflanking offensive further south in the Novo Sokolniki region is going forward rapidly. The. Germans were driven yesterday from Novo Rjev, a town commanding one of the rare highways running through this area. A flying column which General Popov detached from his main forces is driving hard to cut the PskovOstrov railway, which is one of the two escape routes for the German garrison inside Pskov. The double drive from the north-east and to the west along the railway from Novo Sokolniki aims at a severance of the PskovPolotsk railway which would finally unhinge the German north and northcentral fronts.

The British United Press correspondent in Moscow in an earlier message says General Popov's advance guards swarmed across the Cherekha River and are now south-east of the city. Siege f;uns vesterdav were hammering ast fine of defences. General Popov's men fought their way across the strategically important Sudomsk heights, which form a 1200 ft. high, timbercovered elevation to the south-east of Pskov. Special units have been appointed to clear the wreckage of tanks and lorries from the roads to enable the main columns to advance without interruption. Retreating Enemy Harried

The correspondent adds that General Govorov's tanks and guns are streaming through Toroshino, seven miles north of Pskov, while a second column to the north-east is moving up. Combined patrols of tanks and tommygunners, mounted on horses, are out ahead of all the main forces, harrying the Germans, who are moving back to Pskov from the fallen outer fortresses. Stormoviks ahead of the main Soviet forces are also harrying the Germans. Reuter's correspondent in Moscow reports that "night shifts" of specially trained Russian troops take over from the regular forces as darkness falls and keep up the battle for Pskov in a round-the-clock offensive.

The correspondent states that important political as well as military reasons underly the Germans' eagerness to retain Pskov. The loss of the gateway to Latvia and Estonia would not encourage the Finns to believe that von Keuchler is able to hold up the Russian advance to the Gulf of Finland coast opposite Finnish ports.

NEW ATTACK REPORTED FIGHTING IN UKRAINE LONDON, Feb. 29 The German commentator von Hammer reports that the Russians on Monday launched a new attack in the Shepetovka area, on the western Ukrainian front, south-east of Rovno. The Russians tried to enlarge the gap they had forced there. The Berlin radio says that the Red Army on the southern bank of the Beresina River has continued its attempt to break through to Bobruisk, on the northern flank of the Kiev salient, by using far superior forces with strong tank and artillery support. They have scored a local breach at one point, which was cleared up before nightfall. DNIEPER BEND FRONT LONDON, March 1 The Russian push to clear the Germans from the Dnieper bend is progressing, and the latest advances have brought the Soviet troops # as far as 30 miles south-west of Krivoi Rog.