ODER BRIDGEHEAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25800, 22 March 1945, Page 5

ODER BRIDGEHEAD

WIPED OUT BY RUSSIANS EAST PRUSSIAN POCKET aflame: with battle LONDON, Mar. 20. Marsal Stalin, in an order of the day to Marshal Vassilevsky and his cluef of stafl, General Povrosky, states that troops of the Third White Russian front, continuing their fighting for the annihilat.on of the encircled German group in East Prussia, to-day occupied the town of Braunsberg, a powerful stronghold of German resistance. The capture of Altdamm, four miles north-east of Stettin, is announced by Marshal Stalin in a second order of the day. He said: “ Troops of the First White Russian Command, after stiff fighting, to-day captured Altdamm and liquidated th:s strongly fortified German bridgehead on the east bank of the Oder.”

The capture of Braunsberg means that the road and railways from Koenigsberg to Danzig have been cut.

Reuter’s correspondent points out that Marshal Stalin’s first order, addressed to Marshal Vassilevsky, indicated that he had taken over the command of this important front, succeeding General Chernyakovsky, who was killed in action on February 18. Vassilevsky, since 1942, has been chief of the Red Army Staff. In collaboration with Marshal Zhukov he played an important part in the Stalingrad, Voronesh, and Leningrad operations. The Exchange Telegraph points out that as the result of the capture of Braunsberg the enemy grouping encircled south-west of Koenigsberg now holds only one town, Heiligengeil, from which the Russians are now only a few miles. New Pitch of Intensity The Times Moscow correspondent reports that fighting on the sandy coast of East Prussia has reached a pitch of intensity rarely matched in any battles this winter. The area still in enemy hands has been subjected to shattering blows from massed artil-. lery and mortars, while Red Air Force bombers and Stormoviks are constantly over the battle area, blasting concentrations of troops and vehicles off the roads and at the small port of Frischenshalff. Russian soldiers are throwing themselves into the task of thrusting the Germans from these ancient Slay lands on the Baltic as steadfastly as when they were ejecting the enemy from their own soil. The Russians in this land, where the population is full of

hatred for them, are denied the exhilaration that springs from seeing their .own lands freed, but they are taking" the rigours of the East Prussian campaign in good heart. Danzig is being subjected to a heavy bombardment from the air and from Red Army artillery, principal targets being the port and the main airfield, which the enemy still holds. The British United Press Moscow correspondent says that the German pockets in Danzig and are shrinking. The battles for these strongpoints are approaching the end. The whole area between the southwest outskirts of Koenigsberg and the Samland Peninsula is aflame with battle. Artillery and motrtar shells are raining against the enemy garrisons. There is scarcely an inch of soil unscarred by the tremendous artillery onslaught. Drive Towards Vienna The German commentator, Major von Hammer, admitted that 20 Russian infantry divisions were storming westward in a great new breach pointing towards Viennt, between Szekesfehervar arid Falsoirg. The Germans have thrown emergency units into battle west of Mor, 20 miles north-west of Szekesfehervar. “The position around Komarno,” he said, “is critical.” He later added that Marshal Koniev’s troops had launched a major assault against Golgau, a Gei'man fortress on the west bank of the Oder, 55 miles north-west of Breslau, which for some weeks has been surrounded.