POURING INTO GAP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25386, 18 November 1943, Page 5

POURING INTO GAP

BREAK-THROUGH AT GOMEL ENEMY LINE THREATENED LONDON, Nov. 16. The massive Russian assault against the German lines of communication is now severing railways and highways from White Russia to the shores of the Black Sea. The Russians are leaving the Germans fewer and fewer lines for the transfer of reserves to reinforce vital points or for withdrawals of men and material. The Red Army forces are now pouring into the gap smashed in the White Russia line by the break-through across Gomel’s only railway westward. A despatch from the front to-night said the advance was . pushing on rapidly. General Vatutin’s troops moving north from the Kiev bulge were now joining with the forces which outflanked ■ Gomel from the west, threatening to turn the entire White Russian line. This co-ordinated drive threatens to throw the Germans back to the Pripet Marshes. The Gomel garrison is reported to be in a desperate position. The available German reserves in this region have been weakened, and losses in planes and transport vehicles are also ,heavy. ■ The capture of Demichi ■ rail station - is a bitter blow against the enemy, who until three days ago was using the line for getting troops and supplies into Gomel. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says . another column is driving against the railway 25 miles north of Korosten and Ryechitsa, which is the only adequate' road across the eastern end of the Pripet Marshes, and is also menacing the Korosten-Chernigov railway. Both lines are under fire, and have already been crossed by cavalry patrols. Gomel is probably not completely deprived of railway communication by the Russian drive from the south across the main route west of Ryechitsa, since another railway running north-west to Zhalobin and Bobruisk may still be available to thp Germans,, but the simultaneous advance north and south of the Pripet Marshes threatens the German position along the Dnieper in between. The Russians are evidently aiming at Korosten and Ovruch, on the main line between Korosten and Mozyr. If they capture Ovruch, from which they are only 15 to 20 miles distant, they will deprive the Germans between there and the Gomel area of all communications except such roads as cross that part of the Pripet Marshes. The German announcement of strong Russian attacks near Krivoi Rog may be designed to prepare the way for a withdrawal from the Dnieper bend. • The Russians on. the Kerch peninsula are strengthening their hold on the marshy forest-dotted terrain. The Rsd Navy’s little ships are transporting supplies across the storm-swept straits.