VITAL RAILWAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25430, 11 January 1944, Page 3

VITAL RAILWAY

WARSAW-ODESSA UNE THREAT FROM SOVIET DRIVES l GERMAN ARMIES MENACED (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 10. The threat to 500,000 Germans grows every hour as the Red Army maintains its powerful thrusts into the Dnieper bend, confronting the enemy forces with encirclement or the unenviable task of. withdrawal. The Russians are attacking on three sides of the bend, but the most serious is from the north, where twin drives to the south are threatening the vital Warsaw-Odessa railway line, the main escape route for the sorely-pressed German armies in the bend. One of these drives is on a 40-mile front west of Jmerinka, on the railway line, and the other is surging forward on a broad, front east of the town. Last night the latter drive had reached a point only 27 miles from the line. The third thrust is being carried out by Soviet troops who took Kirovograd. Here the Red Army is advancing rapidly into the very heart of the Dnieper bend, and is splitting up into three columns, which are .aiming to reach the bottom of the bend and seal the German armies from the west. f / The situation of the enemy forces still clinging to Kanev, on the Dnieper below Kiev, is becoming precarious. Their only line of retreat is through the railway junction of Smyela, which is also menaced by the Russians from two directions. If Smyela falls the garrison at Kanev will be trapped. Stiffer resistance is being met by the Soviet forces across the Polish border, and they are being held up near Sarny. Further south, however, they are broadening their offensive front on the border, and are now only a few miles from Shepetovka, south-west of Novograd Volynsk. The Red Army has'forced another break-through across the old Polish border. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says General Vatutin’s troops, striking 45 miles north-west of Novograd Valynsk in the past 24 hours, have surged six miles over the frontier and are now thrusting across marshes on the left flank of the main drive towards Sarny. The British United Press points out that a year ago the Red Army was fighting its main battle at Stalingrad, 1000 miles from the borders of East Prussia, which is the nearest German territory. To-day the Russians stand before Rovno, only 250 miles from East Prussia.