LIKE 1918

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25579, 5 July 1944, Page 5

LIKE 1918

FRONT DISINTEGRATES DECISIVE ARENA (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, July 4. "General von Bosch’s front in White Russia seems to have disintegrated in a manner strangely reminiscent of autumn, 1918,” says t the Daily Telegraph’s military commentator, Lieutenant-general H. G. Martin, discussing the danger to Germany which the Soviet advance involves. “ White Russia is a dynamic and decisive arena. All the' fronts against Germany are interdependent, but the Russian front., because of its vast scope and wide opportunities, is undoubtedly the dynamic front to which the others are subsidiary. Not even the Red Army in its immensely superior strength could- advance 20 miles a day, as it did last week through a strongly-fortified zone, had it been faced with resolute defence. This was no prearranged, skilfully-con-ducted German withdrawal according fo plan “We are left with the explanation that the German High Command intended to fight this summer for a decision in the west, and allotted its commanders on the Russian and Italian fronts a programme for delaying action, for which it provided a minimum of effectives. General von Bosch did his best to hang on to White Russia, but got his front smashed. His precipitate withdrawal will compromise General Lindeman’s army group further north. The speed of the Russian break-through destroyed the whole basis of the German plans. The Germans in their dilemma may be forced to transfer their reinforcements from south Russia to the north, thereby weakening the front to the south of the Pripet Marshes. "Nothing could suit the Red Army better because it will soon open what it intends to be the main offensive on the Galician and Rumanian fronts, where the Germans, with their Hungarian and Rumanian satellites, must stand and fight until they break. It is there that the final clash is likely to come.” Mr Morley Richards, the military writer of the Daily Express, says that the pace of the Red Army’s advance has forced great masses of Germans into the Pripet Marshes, where they can be easily mopped up. “The German Army is now irreparably split in two, with each group facing separate annihilation,” he says. “ The Red Army’s great sweep through White Russia may have brought the end of the war much nearer.” The Daily Express correspondent with the Red Army says the Russian break-through has in eight days officially brought in 63,930 prisoners, “ but they are coming in all the time, and I estimate the actual total will be at least 80,000.” The Moscow radio commentator, M. J. Yermashev, says: “ It is already clear that the so-called enemy defensive front in White Russia has ceased to exist as a whole. It is being rent to pieces. German reports and commentaries give only a few words to the events in White Russia. The Hitlerites have lost their gift for words. It is a significant silence.” The Stockholm correspondent of The Times says the Germans west of Minsk might improvise some sort of new line, but it cannot be anything like as strong as the defences the Russians have obliterated in the past 10 days. The Germans’ greatest difficulty is to man and equip such a new line after the tremendous losses in men and material since the Russian offensive began, and owing to calls from other fronts on reserves already strained. Moreover, the battle line is now reaching a region where the organised Polish underground army of partisans, operating effectively on a large scale, will increase the Germans’ difficulties.