GERMANS WAVERING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25429, 10 January 1944, Page 3

GERMANS WAVERING

FURY OF RUSSIAN THRUST TALK OF GENERAL RETREAT (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 8. “ There is no doubt in Berlin that the present battles in Russia are the decisive round and that the European war will unquestionably be decided on the eastern front —not by bombing, nor in Italy, nor by invasion from the west,” says the German News Agency. ‘‘The Soviet attacks have now assumed the character of a general offensive, which German military circles view as an all-out effort to smash the German eastern front. Reports reaching Berlin in the last 24 hours indicate no slackening in the fury of Ihe Soviet offensive, particularly in the Dnieper bend.”

The German armies must now he prepared not merely to fight a steady retreat, but must withdraw from and abandon whole countries, a Wilhelmstrasse spokesman told neutral correspondents. "It is now a question which- countries the German forces should give up to carry out essential plans for the German defence. We have to remember,” the spokesman added, “ that we must keep at least 100 divisions ready for an Allied invasion in the west. The next few days will show whether it is worth while to abandon our positions in the Dnieper altogether or to shorten the front.” “We shall not hold Russian territory merely for prestige reasons,” a German military spokesman told the Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm Telegraph Bureau. “If circumstances force a total retreat from Russia, this will be a secondary consideration,” added the spokesman. “ Our first aim is to maintain an unbraken front.” The correspondent interprets this statement as indicating that a new largescale German retreat is imminent.

Another German spokesman is quoted by the Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm paper Svenska Morgenbladet as saying that there is a possibility that the German Army will be forced to withdraw entirely from Russia in face of what appears to be a giant Russian offensive along the whole front from /Leningrad to the Black Sea. The correspondent adds: “But the Nazis over-emphasise their difficulties sometimes so that if they achieve a successful counter-stroke they can claim that it was accomplished against overwhelming odds.” The linking up of the first Ukrainian troops with those holding the Dnieper bridgehead at Bukrinsky, south-east of Pereyaslavl, was effected after General Vatutin’s forces had occupied Rzhyshchev, south of Kiev, states a Soviet supplementary communique. In the break-through in the Kirovograd sector the second Ukrainian troops, after crossing the Ingul, occupied the locality of Gruznoye and cut the railway line from Kirovograd to Novoukrania. Others occupied the railway station at Lelekovka, and to the south of this railway station joined troops advancing from the south-west. Thus the Russian troops completely encircled Kirovograd, as well as the German units defending the town. Enemy formations outside the town have been routed, and are abandoning arms and war material. A large number of prisoners have been captured.