BATTLE FOR BERLIN

Southland Times, Issue 25652, 20 April 1945, Page 5

BATTLE FOR BERLIN

GERMANS ADMIT REVERSES NO CONFIRMATION BY MOSCOW (Rec. 11.45 p.m.) LONDON, April 19. The Germans continue to speak of big battles raging along a wide front east of Berlin, but the news has not yet been con-

firmed by Moscow. The Germans

have stated that the Russians have advanced more than half-

way from the Oder to Berlin. The German High Command has summed up the battle for Berlin in these words: “A defensive battle is raging with great fury on the Oder. Our gallant divisions, effectively supported by artillery and anti-air-craft guns used as ground artillery, repulsed the Russians who are far superior in men and material. Reports so far to hand state that 257 tanks were destroyed in this sectoi’ yesterday.” Later, the German High Command declared that so fierce were the armoured clashes that the Red Army in the past 24 hours had lost 510 tanks. The correspondent of Reuter’s says that should this figure be correct, it is equal to a record day’s panzer losses inflicted against the Germans in the historic battle of the Kursk-Byelgorod bulge in the summer of 1943, when the Soviet Command maintained large-scale armoured attritional warfare for some weeks.

A German correspondent, broadcasting from Berlin said: “The Russian barrage is beyond all imagination. They fired more than 10,000 tons of shells in the first three days of their offensive between Frankfurt and Kustrin.”

The German News Agency continues its admissions of Russian gains on the front facing Berlin. A big battle is reported south of Stettin, in the Schwedt, Fiddichow and Greifenhagen areas. The Germans are reported to be preparing countermeasures. BERLIN HEARS GUNS

A Berlin radio commentator reports that the Russians have overcome the dragon’s teeth west of the Oder. The roar of artillery is hourly becoming louder in the streets of Berlin. Other German reports state that one Russian bridgehead over the Neisse Rivei' has been strengthened and that 60 tanks crossed the river. Agency correspondents in Moscow say that Marshal Rodion Malinovsky’s forces driving into Moravia from the south are well within gun range of Brno. Russian artillery have opened up against the city’s outer fortifications. A large-scale assault is imminent. Brno is an important Czech arms centre, as well as a communications junction.