GREAT NEW THRUST

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 22991, 7 September 1944, Page 5

GREAT NEW THRUST

RED ARMY ON THE _ MOVE May Outflank Warsaw By Telegrapk—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright ■ LONDON, Sept. 5. Marshal Zakharov’s great new thrust south-west of Lomza, with its possibility of splitting the German front between East Prussia and Warsaw and outflanking Warsaw itself, is hailed by correspondents at Moscow as the second great move in the Russians’ mighty offensive.

The British United Press says that one of the hardest tank battles of the war has been fought in this area, where the German High Command has massed armed forces with the determination to hold Warsaw and deny the Red Army the chance of a breakthrough to Danzig. There have been grave losses on both sides in the tank battle, but the Red Army shocktroops smashed across the Narew River in this battle of increasing importance. The German News Agency commentator (von Hammer) said that the Russians are continuing to attempt to break through with vast forces between the Bug and Narew Rivers, on a broad front. They crossed the Narew, occupied Wyszkow and are advancing westward beyond tire town. Warsaw, in the 37th day of the siege, has been plunged in darkness. General Bor in a communique reveals that the bombardment by the enemy put out of action the main power plant of the city. Germans In Hiding The Moscow correspondent of Reuter’s reports that small pockets of German resistance in Southern Rumania are being cleaned up in sharp clashes. The plains and woods are honeycombed with straggling German units who are hiding in ravines and copses, ambushing the advancing Russians. Red Army scouts, aided by Rumanian peasants, are scouring the country ahead of the main body. They mopped up 2000 concealed Germans at a point north of Giurgiu. Correspondents at Moscow estimate that the Germans have 100 divisions free on the Eastern front to meet further massive onslaughts by the Russians. The Russians south-west of Lomza, after crossing the Narew River, occupied the town and large railway station of Wyszkow, besides 150 other places, says the Soviet communique to-night. In" a number of sectors the Red Army reached the Narew River and in the advance in Rumania occupied a number of large towns, including Pitesti, 57 miles west of Ploesti, besides 200 other places. Russians north of Tartu repelled attacks by tanks and infantry and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. On Way to Iron Gate

The Red Army is well on the way to the Iron Gate, a narrow gorge leading through the south-west foothills of the Carpathians to the flat country bordering on Yugoslavia, where a junction with Marshal Broz-Tito might be effected. By capturing Craiova to-day, 40 miles from the Yugoslav border, the Russians leapt forward more than 150 miles from Bucharest within five days, and covered more than two-thirds of the way from the capital to Turnu Severin, the eastern entry to the Iron Gate. In Craiova was signed the Treaty of 1940, unde:-’ which Rumania, under German pressure, ceded Southern Dubruja to Bulgaria. Moscow reports state that the Russians are pouring through Rumania at a speed nearly twice as great as any of their campaigns since Stalingrad. Remaining German forces are being scattered like chaff. Battlefront dispatches are out of date almost as soon as they reach Moscow. The column which took Craiova hurdled 10 rivers, one of which was protected by a broad belt of marshes, in less than 24 hours, and Is already stabbing far west of the town. With tlie_ latest advance,s. nearly all of Rumania, except Transylvania, is in Russian hands.