THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Tuesday, February 8, 1944. BREACHING THE WALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25454, 8 February 1944, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Tuesday, February 8, 1944. BREACHING THE WALL

If, as report states, the swift penetration of Russian forces into Polish territory, through Lutsk in a northwesterly line towards Kovel and south-west from Rovno towards the great transport centre of Lwow, has 'caused amazement and confusion in Berlin, it is safe to assume that the •latest news of the unhinging of the German line in the extreme south, consequent upon the encirclement of ten Nazi divisions in the Smyela salient, will have been received with something akin to despair in the bomb-shattered German capital. The whole of the German “ East Wall,” from the Black Sea to the Baltic, now appears to be crumbling under the tremendous weight of the Russian blows. The dramatic developments of the past few weeks may be said to have resulted in the strategic sense from the Russian capture of Kirovograd early in January. The German armies which then occupied the dangerously exposed central Dnieper salient were believed to comprise some twenty divisions. For supply purposes, and to a large extent for escape purposes also, they depended almost entirely on the line running from Krivoi Rog through Kirovograd to Smyela. Kirovograd was the vital rail centre, and was still more important to the German High Command as the focal point of main roads in that part of the Ukraine. Its fall destroyed at a stroke the continuity of the German front from the centre to the south, and opened the way for the brilliantly conceived offensive movements that have since been witnessed. Marshal Stalin’s recent order of the day, addressed to Generals Konev and Vatutin, described the tactics which were employed to enclose the doomed divisions in the trap west of Smyela, the pincers having converged from Kirovograd, to the south, and Belaya Tserkov, to the north, of Smyela. This morning’s news of the complementary Russian drives in the Nikopol area not only emphasises the astounding offensive capacity of the Red AYmy, but also underlines once again the masterly skill with which vast forces are being manoeuvred along the entire front to strike wherever the German defence lines are subjected to the greatest strain. With the Russian capture of Apostolovo, 34 miles west of Nikopol, the process of disrupting the German communications system is advanced another stage. More dramatic in its possibilities, however,_ is the fact that these newest Russian thrusts have prised the Germans from their last foothold on the east bank of the Dnieper near Nikopol, for a consequence of the present advance is said to be that the main escape gap from the lower Dnieper has been closed. The correspondent of the British United Press estimates that the Nazi divisions now threatened with annihilation in the Nikopol and Krivoi Rog sectors and in the Kanev pocket farther north constitute a large proportion of the forces retained to seal the approaches to Rumania. The next few days should show whether the Germans are capable of the effort required to redeem the position created by the Russian break-through towards Krivoi Rog and Nikopol. If these strong-points collapse under the unrelenting pressure of the Soviet drive a calamitous retreat to the line of the Bug may be in prospect for the demoralised enemy, and the fate of the German forces sealed in the Crimea will again become a subject for speculation. Indeed, Vichy radio, quoting Berlin, is already reporting a new Russian offensive against the Perekop gateway of the Crimea. - In the meantime there is apparently no slackening of the pace of the Russian advance into Poland, nor any lessening of the pressure which, in the Leningrad sector, has in the past two days closed the Narva gap, between the Baltic coast and the northern fringe of Lake Peipus, to the desperately resisting Nazi divisions in Estonia. The Russians are everywhere striking purposefully and with a confidence born of past 'success. It seems beyond question that the winter offensive now moving to its climax will test the Wehrmacht as it has never before been tested—conceivably to the point of collapse and catastrophic defeat.