MORE STREET BATTLES

Southland Times, Issue 25565, 8 January 1945, Page 5

MORE STREET BATTLES

RUSSIAN HOLD ON BUDAPEST STRONG ENEMY PUSH REPELLED (Rec. 11.5 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 7. The Russians yesterday captured 173 blocks of buildings in the Budapest area, took 1630 German and Hungarian prisoners, destroyed 130 German tanks and shot down 17 planes, states a Russian communique. Strong enemy infantry and tank attacks north-west of Budapest were repelled. Tank, artillery and air battles as fierce as those which raged over the Ukrainian plains west of Kiev during autumn 1943, are going on in the mountain sector north-west ofBudapest, says the Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press of America. The Germans are throwing in tanks, infantry and planes in an effort to relieve the battered garrison of Budapest who are now trying to fight their way out of the city. The whole sector south of the Danube bend is most fluid, with villages changing hands several times a day. KING TIGER TANKS The Germans brought up a number of King Tiger tanks and stronger Luftwaffe forces than have been seen on the eastern front for many months went up in support of the German ground troops. The fighting is still tough in Buda where the Germans hold several important heights in the city from which they are firing with good effect. The Russian push through Pest is believed to be very close to the Danube at several points. The Moscow correspondent of Reuter’s says the immediate threat of a German break-through to Budapest appears to have been averted. A dispatch from Budapest to the Moscow newspaper, Red Star, announced repeated German counter-attacks inside the city in which the enemy suffered heavy losses. The Germans set fire to houses, seeking to protect themselves by a ring of fire. Prisoners have related terrible scenes of slaughter occurring in the heart of the capital. The Germans

are shooting and bayoneting any civilian appealing in the streets, or anyone leaving the work assigned him. ,