Minsk May Be Outflanked

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 22934, 3 July 1944, Page 5

Minsk May Be Outflanked

Russian Offensives Being Speeded Up Polish Frontier Crossed In Several Places British Official Wireless (Received 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, July 1. THE RUSSIAN advance, the pace of which increased yesterday, now threatens to outflank Minsk both north and south. It does not appear that any determined resistance is at present being made by the Germans. At the same time, it seems that an immense German pocket is being formed with its extremity east of the Beresina between Borisov and Bobruisk, and with its base at Minsk. North of Minsk, the Russian advance is toward the railway junction of Molodechno on the Minsk-Vilna line, while in the south they have pushed beyond Slutsk toward an even more vital junction of Baranowicze on the Minsk-Brest-Litovsk line. The third main spearhead has by-passed Polotsk in the south, and has advanced in the direction of the Latvian city of Dvinsk. At the southern end of the offensive front, the Russians are advancing along the north side of the Pripet, of which they already hold the south bank to within 20 miles of Pinsk. Between Lakes Ladoga and Onega, the Russians continue to push the Finns away from the LeningradMurmansk railway, and are approaching Salmis, on the north-west shore of Lake Ladoga. A Soviet communique states that in the course of the capture of Borisov, the Russians also occupied, in this sector alone, 50 occupied localities, including the towns of Begonny and Pleshcanitsy, district centres of ths Minsk area, and 10 large industrial localities. The communique also reports that during July 1, Soviet troops between Lakes Onega and Ladoga continued to wage offensive fighting, in the course of which they occupied more than 30 inhabited localities, including seven large ones. In the Polotsk direction, Soviet troops occupied more than 150 inhabited localities, and west of Mogilev, troops of the Second White Russian Front occupied more than 50 inhabited localities. They have reached the river crossing at Berienaat and the town of Berisina. Northwest and west of Bobruisk, troops of the First White Russian Front occupied the towns of Popyl, Krasnaya, Sloboda and Krekly, and also took 12,000 prisoners, including the commander of the Sixth Infantry Division, Lieutenant-General Heiner, and the commander of the town of Bobruisk, Major-General Hamann. Up to June 30, the Russians of the First White Russian Front had taken 35,680 prisoners.

Back Toward Minsk The Germans are still falling back before the Russian drive toward Minsk, the capital of White Russia, states an earlier message. In the centre of the front, the Russians have forced the Beresina River, north of Borisov, and have advanced a further 20 miles. In Mogilev, street fighting is still going on. West of the city, the River Drut has been crossed and 80 more places have been taken. Further south following the capture of Bobruisk, 100 places, including two important railway towns, have been captured. The latest frontline reports give the following news: General Chernyakhov’s Russians have reached the Polish border north of Minsk, Marshal Rokossovsky’s forces are less than 30 miles from Minsk, and General Bagramyan’s troops have begun the encirclement of Polotsk. While the Russians continue to storm forward all along the 200-mile White Russia front, the Moscow radio broadcast an ultimatum to the Nazis in this sector.

Addressed to Field-Marshal von Busch, the ultimatum states: “All the German armies in the east are heading for their doom. Their last hour is about to strike. You have only one choice—to die a useless death or end the struggle and save your lives. No fortifications and no ramparts can protect you. The moment has come for you to choose. To-morrow may be too late.” Marshal Rokossovsky’s cavalry is out heading the main pursuit of the broken German divisions west of Bobruisk, where the Russians, after forcing the Beresina River, are pouring toward the old Polish frontier, states the Moscow correspondent of the British United Press. Marshal Rokossovsky’s forces form the most immediate threat to Minsk. HLs advance guards are already less than 30 miles away in the south-west, and, more important still, they have fanned out west along the Baranovichi Pass, which controls the gateway into the plains of Eastern Poland.

General Bagramyan’s forces, after cutting the Polotsk-Molodechno railway, have begun the encirclement of Polotsk, the base which guards the approaches to the Baltic States. General Chernyakhov, farther north along the Beresina River, who has reached the 1939 Polish border at a point due north of Minsk, is holding his massed forces and waiting for General Zakharov in the Mogilev sector to reach the river line before launching a frontal attack against Minsk. Counting Time By Hours The correspondent quotes a front line report that troops of the White Russian front, from privates to generals, are counting the time by hours and not by days. One unit, for example, advanced 15 miles in 24 hours, forcing’ a river and capturing two lines of trenches. Marshal Rokossovsky’s feat in capturing Bobruisk and forcing the Beresina will go down in history as one of the major strategic victories of the war. It is being hailed in Moscow as the second historic be/tle along the Beresina. The Russians have never forgotten, even during the darkest days of the war, that it was here that Napoleon lost his army in 1812. A special communique issued from Moscow to-night discloses that 17.000 Germans have been killed or captured on the First and Second White Russia fronts since the beginning of the offensive a week ago.

The war reporter of “Izvestia” states: "Some little spring has broken in the Wehrmacht. German soldiers, armed to the teeth, are now surrendering whilei they still have ample ammunition for many days’ resistance.” The correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency, after a tour of the Vitebsk area, states: “Crack German troops who a week ago were solidly manning the Vitebsk zone defences now look as though they had been hit by lightning. Our party in a tour of the district had to swerve our car every few yards, off the road to avoid the remnants of the proud German motorised divisions. We halted outside the city to drink ■with the Russians a toast to Vitebsk and Cherbourg. One Russian remarked that these two bastions were almost equidistant from Berlin.” Rain Of Russian Steel The Berlin radio to-day said: “The Russians are literally deluging the battlefield with a rain of steel. German soldiers are subjected to a ceaseless aerial bombardment while packs of tanks and hundreds of heavy guns in multiple batteries attack on the ground. The Red Army’s best troops are being hurled against the central front to transform the White Russian Plain into a vast mortar in which to grind the German divisions to dust. To strengthen this plan a wide screen of guerrilla forces is in the German rear. These troops now engage large German forces. Tills all-out summer offensive imposes gigantic tasks on the German High Command.” Military writers in London state that no limit can be set to the Russian advance. It would seem that the German command misjudged the direction of the Red Army’s delayed summer offensive, and concentrated its main forces farther south around Lwow to prevent a great break-through to Warsaw from the south-east. Now that the blow has fallen on the White Russia sector, hasty regrouping must be made well behind the present fluid front. „ Pursuit of the Germans

M. Stalin, in an Order of the Day, addressed to Marshal Rokossovsky, says: “Troops of the Third White Russian Front forced the Beresina right over a 70-mile front, and to-day captured Borisov. Moscow saluted the feat with 20 salvoes from 224 guns.” Russian inotor-cycle storm troops, the Red Army’s fastest units, joined in the pursuit of the Germans to Minsk. The German, Major-General Hammann, reported captured, was formerly military commander at Orel, where he was accused of mass murdenng innocent civilians. A Prussian supplementary communique states: “Soviet planes on Friday night carried oat a mass raid on the railway junctions of Yaglevichi, Baranokichi, Luninets, Moldechno, Minsk and Polotsk. They set fire _to trains carrying troops and stores. Five companies of Finnish infantry were routed during the action in which Prvazha was captured. Violent allnight street fighting preceded the capture of Borisov'. Russian tank and infantry units, which burst into the town from the north and south, squeezed the German garrison in iron pincers. The enemy lost more than 8000 killed, and 80 German tanks and 100 guns were destroyed in the two days’ fighting.” The German News Agency s commentator. von Olberg. admits that the overall situation on the front is most tense. The German High Command has taken all precautions to stem this major breach in our lines.