BUDAPEST BATTLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25053, 17 November 1944, Page 5

BUDAPEST BATTLE

STIFF AXIS RESISTANCE SOVIET TANKS MASSING BED AIR FOKCE ACTIVE (Reed. 11.10 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 1G Moscow correspondents say the Russians have broken through the German lines covering Budapest and are pouring toward the eastern outskirts of the corridor. One correspondent says the foremost Russian tanks are ten miles from the city. Russian infantry and tanks are said to be massing in a semi-circle around Pest, backed up by a powerful ring of guns. A German High Command spokesman told neutral press representatives that Budapest will under no circumstances be declared an open city. A Soviet communique announces the capture of Jaszbereny, on a branch line connecting the Budapest-Szolnok and the Budapest-Miskolcz railways. The German news agency says the Germans have evacuated Jaszbereny. The agency's commentator, von Olberg, states the preparations for a Russian offensive are noticeable along the northern and central fronts. One correspondent says the German front around Budapest is so indented and constricted that the Russians, with another successful thrust, could unhinge the whole system and carry the battle into the streets of the city. Marshal Malinovsky, after liquidating the last German bridgehead on the east bank of the Danube south of Budapest, is beginning to throw more men and guns into the main drive on the arc around the city. Reuter's correspondent in Moscow says the Russians who pierced the German defences about 20 miles east of Budapest are now meeting with the most stubborn resistance since Marshal Malinovsky began his broad sweep up the Danube-Tisa corridor. The Red Air Force, taking advantage of better weather, is carrying the battle across the Danube, where it is bombing and machine-gunning Hungarians and Germans who are attempting to strengthen their fortifications on the west bank of the Danube. The Germans are putting up more fighter planes and are again using screaming dive-bombers. The Red Army is meeting them with intense anti-aircraft fire and many fighters. .