RUSSIAN GAINS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25013, 2 October 1944, Page 5

RUSSIAN GAINS

INTO YUGOSLAVIA '• i| • ... SERB TOWNS TAKEN nl . ADVANCE IN RUMANIA CZECHOSLOVAK SECTOR (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 1 After Soviet reconnaissance units infiltrated into Yugoslavia on Friday, Russian troops on Saturday crossed the frontier south of Turnu Severin, says a Moscow communique. The Russians in their first engagements in Yugoslavia de- . feated the Germans and occupied 20 localities, including Negotin and Kladovo. The British United Press correspondent in Moscow says that the Russian crossing of the Danube in strength resulted in the capture of Palanka, north of Negotin. The German news agency claims that Palanka was recaptured by mountain troops. Forcing of Mures River An earlier Soviet communique says that the Russians in Northern Transylvania occupied the town of Targul Mures and fought their way into 50 other places, including six railway stations. They forced the Mures River and established a bridgehead on the western bank. - A Rumanian communique announces - the capture of a town just inside the Hungarian frontier and on one of the main railway routes to Rumania from the west.

The first snows in Transylvania are reported by the German news agency. It also says that the Germans and Hungarians are launching counter-attacks. Ruthenian Defences Cracked ■ The Russians have scored an important success in the Eastern Carpathians and are within 40 miles of Cluj after breaking the upper Mures River line, says the Moscow correspondent. of the Associated Press.

The Red Array, assisted by the Czeohs, '* has already cracked a 90-xnile stretch of frontier fortifications defending the Ruthenian hills. It has driven wedges into every important Ruthenian pass, extending its grip on tfhe pre-war * Czechoslovak frontier to 145 miles. 11l spite of supply difficulties in the mountains the Russians appear to be increasing the force of their blows and de-'; veloping what may be an encircling threat to the remaining German units in Northern Transylvania. Battles on Mountain Heights

Renter's Moscow correspondent says the Red Army on some sectors of the Czechoslovak front are fighting battles on dizzy mountain heights where sudden thunderstorms transform paths into torrents, sending huge boulders crash-.; ing across the roads. ,1 Another correspondent says the Russian drive against Czechoslovakia, which is making good headway, threatens the last German defences along the great stretch of the Polish-Czech border region. It menaces the German forces in Hungary and those massed on sectors south of Cracow. It also brings the Russians nearer Silesia, which is one of tha most important areas in this section of Germany. . •, : : NEAR BELGRADE (YUGOSLAV PARTISANS ADRIATIC PORT LIBERATED LONDON, Sept. 30-* Yugoslav Partisans are on the approaches to Belgrade, where they routed a force of Germans and Chetniks, says the Free Yugoslav radio. Chetniks and members of the so-called Home Guard are coming over to the liberation army en masse and 55,000 of them had responded to Marshal Tito's call by September 16. More are still joining and new units of the People's Army of Liberation are being formed daily.

The radio announced the liberation of the port of Jablanac, which is an important centre of communications with Fiume, higher up the Adriatic.

RUSSIANS IN THRACE

REPORT OF OCCUPATION

(Reed. 12.15 a.m.)

LONDON. Oct. 1

The Red Army, with the co-operation of Bulgarian forces, has begun the occupation of Greek Thrace and is creating Communist local administrations, says the Exchange Telegraph' correspondent in Istanbul.

NEW AMERICAN POST

WORK FOR MR NELSON (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 President Roosevelt has accepted tho resignation of the chairman of the War Production Board. Mr Donald Nelson, but has asked him to remain in the Government in a high post of major importance. Mr Julius Krug has been appointed Mr Nelson's successor. President Roosevelt said * that Mr Nelson's new post was connected with "laying the groundwork for post-war economic co-operation with other nations."

The Washington correspondent of the New York Times reports that Mr Nelson has probably become a kind of roving commercial ambassador, travelling as President's Roosevelt's personal representative as he did on his missions to Russia and China. Mr Nelson said he had contemplated resignation ever since war production had successfully met its crucial test in the invasion of Europe.

Mr Krug, who is 37, is an engineer,, and has been chief power consultant to the Office of Production Management since 1941.

FIRST CANADIAN GENERAL!

OTTAWA, Sept. 30

The retirement of Lieutenant-General A. G. L. McNaughton, former commander of the Canadian Army overseas, with the rank of full general, is announced- He becomes the first full general in the history of the Canadian Army-

CASUALTIES IN BATH (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON. Sept. 30 It is disclosed that 1272 casualties occurred, including 400 deaths, during the German raids on Bath on the nights of April 25 and 26, 1942. Mora than 19,000 premises -were' damaged. '• ■