GAINS IN HUNGARY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25055, 20 November 1944, Page 5

GAINS IN HUNGARY

RUSSIANS PRESSING ON STRONG GERMAN DEFENCE (Reed. 8.15 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 19 The Russians advancing on Budapest from several directions have made further progress and there is an unofficial report that they have entered the city. The Red Army is also closing on the vital supply and railway centre of Miskolcz, in northeastern Hungary. A correspondent says the capture of Miskolcz would paralyse the Germans north-east of Budapest. A Moscow communique says the Russians have captured Tura, on the Buda-pest-Miskolcz railway. They have also occupied a number of other inhabited localities, including four railway stations, one of which was five miles west of Hatvan. Drive Into Tatra Mountains Driving deeper into the Tatra Mountains near the Hungarian-Slovak frontier, the Red Army is closing on the railway towns of Miskolcz and Eger, says the Associated Press Moscow correspondent. The Russians are only four miles from Eger, which is on a secondary communications route. Another message says the Red Army last night was only a few miles southeast of Miskolcz. The main railway linking Miskolcz with Budapest has already been cut in several places and the enemy forces in and around Miskolcz are in danger of being cut off.

The British United Press correspondent in Moscow reports that Russian troops are slowly grinding their way into the southern outskirts of Budapest, with only four and a-half miles to go to reach the main part of Pest, on the east bank of the Danube. The enemy defences on the southern outskirts appear to be yielding relatively more easily than the defences in the east part of the city, where the Russians were last reported to be 14 miles from Pest. Battle lor Hatvan The correspondent adds that although the Hungarians defending the capital are reported to be demoralised and resigned to their fate, the Germans show no signs of relaxing. They are taking advantage of the canal system and deep, wide, anti-tank moats to take the heaviest possible toll for the Russian gains. t Russian and German tanks fought a furious battle for Hatvan, 29 miles north-east of Budapest, says the Associated Press Moscow correspondent. The Russians in this area are thrusting forward to outflank Budapest and menace the German lifeline to Austria. Russian armoured units attacked Hatvan, which is on the railway to Miskolcz, from two sides. The German Command threw badly-weaponed panzer units into a desperate defence. Moscow correspondents agree that Marshal Malinovsky is about to give his full attention to an all-out assault on Budapest. Reuter's correspondent says frontline messages from Hungary report the Red Army's final drive to carry the battle into the streets of Budapest may start at any moment. Marshal Malinovsky has already thrown more assault troops and tanks into the attack from the south and east.

TIRANA EVACUATED ADMISSION BY GERMANS (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 18 The Germans have evacuated Tirana, capital of Albania, says the German news agency. The latest Yugoslav communique issued some hours earlier reported that there was violent street fighting in Tirana. MARSHAL DECORATED VALUE OF ARTILLERY (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 19 The Moscow radio announced that an Order of the Day has been issued awarding the Order of Suvarov, First Class, to Marshal of Artillery Voronov. The Order of the Day emphasised that artillory was the basis of the Red Army's strength. "Artillery was the force which enabled the Red Army to halt the enemy at the approaches to Leningrad and Moscow," it stated. "It smashed the enemv's resistance at Stalingrad, Voronezh, Kursk, Bielgorod, Kharkov, Kiev, Vitebsk, Minsk, lasi and Chisinau. Artillery swept the way clear for infantry and tanks, as a result of which the enemy was expelled from the Motherland." NEW FINNISH CABINET (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 18 The new Finnish Cabinet, headed by M. Paasikivi, includes ten new Ministers, one of which is a Socialist and one a Communist, says a Stockholm message. The new Foreign Minister is M. Enckell, and the Defence Minister, 31. Walden.