JUGOSLAV CAPITAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25673, 23 October 1944, Page 5

JUGOSLAV CAPITAL

LIBERATION OF BELGRADE LONDON, Oct. 20. Belgrade has been captured by Russian and Jugoslav troops. Marshal Stalin, in an order of the day, stated: “Troops of the Third Ukrainian Front, in co-operation with Jugoslav national troops, as the result of stubborn battles, to-day completed the annihilation of the German garrison at Belgrade, the capital of our ally, Jugoslavia. Twentyfour salvoes from 324 guns will be fired in Moscow to salute the feat.’’. In four days’ fighting for Belgrade more than 9000 Germans were killed and 8000 taken prisoner. Belgrade is the tenth European capital to be entered by the Allies this year. It lies at the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers, where the main railway from Germany and Hungary into the Balkans meets the west-to-east route from the Adriatic to the Black Sea. The city had a pre-war population of 270,000. It fell to the Germans on April 12, 1941. The capture of Debreczen followed a tank battle which has been raging for the past 12 days. Debreczen is a university city with a population of 117,000 and lies at the edge of the great Hungarian plain, which stretches right up to Budapest.