TELLING BLOWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24850, 23 March 1944, Page 5

TELLING BLOWS

FIGHT BEHIND DNIESTER RED ARMY DRIVES ON PRESSURE ALONG FRONT LONDON, March 21 The Russians on the left, right and behind the Bessarahian spearhead are dealing heavy blows on the road to Lwow and toward Proskurov and Pervomaisk, which, together with Tarnopol, are von Mannstein's last strongholds in the zone above the Dniester. The Bed Army is 50 miles from Lwotf, while hard fighting is. going t>n midway between Vinnitsa and Proskurov. The Russians Advancing on Pervomaisk are 15 miles from the town, the last German stronghold east of the Lower Bug. The Russians a little further south are no more than 10 miles from the river after the capture of Petropavlovka, 40 miles south of Novo Ukrainka. On Marshal Zhukov's front the fall of Brodv, which seems imminent, will mean a sharply increased threat against Lwow and Tarnopol. Remnants of the Vinnitsa garrison are fleeing west, the Germans being squeezed from the salient between Jmerinka and Proskurov. The Moscow correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Company says one of the successes in the battle for Vinnitsa was the destruction of an artillery division consisting of 220 monster cannons. This was the only division of its kind in the German Army. It is presumed the division was formed for the special purpose of blasting escape gaps for the encircled German troops. The first clashes with Rumanian troops brought from the interior resulted in the destruction of a Rumanian regiment, with a bare handful of survivors. The "decisive event was the capture at Jampol of a heavy pontoon park, which the Germans abandoned intact. Thus the biggest Russian tanks crossed immediately. The Germans counter-attacked in a vain effort to force the. Russians on the defensive, and the Luftwaffe tried to mount massed raids against the crossings, but the number of these increased faster than they could be put out of action. The Berlin radio reports that the Luftwaffe has thrown 400 tank busters and battle planes into low-flying strafing attacks in an attempt to hold the still further intensified Russian pressure in the Dniester area. A bitter, defensive battle continues.