SOVIET COLUMNS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25661, 9 October 1944, Page 5

SOVIET COLUMNS

DRIVE INTO HUNGARY ADVANCE TOWARDS BUDAPEST COSSACKS SPREAD TERROR (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 8. Waves of Red Army infantry are moving steadily towards the Tisa and Koros Rivers, the last big obstacles before Budapest, says the Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press, quoting Izvestia. A front line despatch says that Russian mobile units are chasing the retreating Germans and Hungarians, who are unable to disengage themselves. Kuban Cossacks are spreading death and panic in the enemy rear. One tremendous’ Russian assault is aimed at the cities of Szeged and Mezotur and another against Koros, which is 10 miles north-west of Bekes. The Red Army’s operations in the Balkans now stretch along a 90-miles front from Novirecej, north of Belgrade, to the plains west of Gyula, in South-eastern Hungary. It is too early to tell whether the Germans and Hungarians will be able to make an all-out stand along the Tisa and Koros Rivers, but it is obvious that if the Russians are to be held before Budapest these are the points where it must be accomplished. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent reports that the German Command is using transport planes to parachute supplies to the garrisons cut off on the Jugoslav front, west of Negotm. The Germans surrounded in this area are facing annihilation from the combined blQws of Russian and Jugoslav troops and Jugoslav guerrillas. Lithuanian Offensive Berlin radio states that nine Russian divisions are on the offensive near Siauliai, in Lithuania. The Germans after bitter fighting held one Russian column at Kelme, 25 miles south-west of Siauliai. Enemy pressure is very strong north-west of Siauliai. A Jugoslav communique states that the Germans are withdrawing in the region of Bjela Palanka. There is heavy fighting with strong German

forces attempting to secure communications leading from the western Morava Valley to the Ibar Valley. Our troops took by storm the town of Trebinje in Herzegovina, and in Croatia we control the important rail junction of Sunja. According to the German News Agency, the Russian High Command has thrown a great army of 30 divisions, three tank corps, one cavalry corps, one technical corps, and strong Red Air Force formations into the battle for the Beskiden mountain passes which lead across the Carpathians from Poland to Slovakia. A communique from General Tito's headquarters states that Jugoslav national troops, after capturing the rail junction of Virovitica, reached the Hungarian border over an 18-mile front. Drive for Belgrade The liberation of Belgrade is drawing nearer as the Red Army and Marshal Tito's forces mass on the Danube near the city, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. It is thought probable that the Russians in the final push will stand aside to give the Jugoslavs the honour. As part if the softening-up of German resistance, Jugoslav and Russian planes are at present pounding the Germans in the region of Nish. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says a Russian column on October 5 captured Pancevo, and advanced and reached the north bank of the Danube near Belgrade The Russians are mopping up preparatory to a general attack across the Danube.

The Red Army crossed the Rumanian frontier into Hungary in force northwest of Arad, and a Moscow communique reveals that the Russians cap-

tured more than 100 places, some of them more than 10 miles inside Hungary, and are advancing on a 45-mile front. German sources report Russian attacks on Osel Island, west of Siauliai, in Lithuania, and across the Narew River, 40 miles north of Warsaw. A Moscow message says the Germans are making strenuous efforts to reduce or destroy the Russian bridgehead across the west bank of the Vistula, north-east of Cracow. Many .Tiger tanks have been destroyed or captured by the Russians in this area, and some put to good use in further strengthening the bridgehead.