GERMANS FIGHT DESPERATELY

Southland Times, Issue 25548, 16 December 1944, Page 5

GERMANS FIGHT DESPERATELY

Russians Hammering At Budapest (Rec. 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 15. The Germans in Budapest, beset on three sides by the advancing Russians, are fighting desperately to stave off the capture of. the Hungarian capital. All available guns and tanks are being used by the enemy and more of the Luftwaffe has been seen than for some considerable time. A special SS division has been thrown in to the battle to bolster the sagging German line. A crucial battle is also being fought between the Danube bend and Czechoslovakia for command of the Ipoly river. Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin’s men are driving hard to get astride the short route to Vienna. Bitter hand-to-hand fighting is going on inside the German defence system guarding northern and eastern approaches to Budapest, says the Moscow correspondent of Reuter’s. Soviet guns now command all the roads east of the Danube and can bring the German reserves under fire as soon as they emerge from the city. SAVAGE RESISTANCE The Germans have slowed the Red Army’s onslaught chiefly by pouring in reinforcements and by savage and costly counter-attacks, but these stopgap tactics are approaching exhaustion. Considerable importance is attached in Moscow to the fighting across the Danube south-west of Budapest. A Soviet front-line correspondent on this sector said: "The enemy understands that the fate of the whole of Budapest grouping is being decided here.” The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says: “A huge battle is raging south-west of the capital along a 30-mile long railway embankment. The heaviest fighting is going on in the area of Martonvasar, about 17 miles south-west of Budapest. The Germans here threw 75 tanks and three regiments of infantry into a counterattack, but the Russians held firm.” STRONG DEFENCE LINE When the Red Army breaks through this line, the encirclement of Budapest will be complete. The German main defences north-east and north of Budapest are still intact. Berlin radio today said: “The front is coming closer to Budapest. Bombs and shells, machine-gun and cannon fire—that is the music of Budapest.” The Soviet communique states that the Russian troops in Hungary northeast and north of Miskolcz occupied the town and railway station of Szerencs, 13 miles north-east of Miskolcz on the main line running to Kosice and captured 18 other localities and three railway stations. The Russians north of Miskolcz and north-east of Budapest yesterday captured 870 Germans and Hungarians. POLISH "COMMITTEE IN LUBLIN May Become Provisional Government (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 15. It is now considered likely that the Polish National Liberation Committee will shortly declare itself the provisional Government of liberated Poland, with Lublin as the temporary capital, says the diplomatic correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. The Russian Government may wait and see the effect of the move, especially in London, before committing itself to recognition.