LULL OVER

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23083, 23 December 1944, Page 5

LULL OVER

Hungarian Front Red Army Driving On Vienna By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright (11.20 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 22. The Washington correspondent of the Associated American Press learns that Russia has assured the Allies that a powerful Red Army offensive is coming up with a new alignment of forces spearheaded toward the heart of Germany. The Red Army High Command is reported to have informed the British and Americans of the date of the new offensive, and there is strong evidence that they are counting on it. The lull on the Hungarian front is over, said the Berlin radio commentator, Colonel von Hammer, enlarging on the Berlin radio’s earlier assertion that the Russians had launched a new attack between Lake Balaton and the Danube. “Large Russian forces,” he said, “are preparing to crors Laka Balaton at the narrow waist where Tihany Peninsula juts out. The Russians everywhere have replenished their forces and brought up ammunition and weapons.” The Berlin radio added that the Red Army had thrown 10 divisions into the new attack between Lake Balaton and the Danube. The main weight of the new battle is raging south-east of Siekesfehervar.

The correspondent of the British United Press says that after the Berlin radio’s admission that the Red Army had resumed its drive to Vienna came the sensational but unconfirmed statement from French broadcasts that Russian advanced forces have reached the Austrian border beyond Tagykanisza. The Russians in Czechoslovakia, east of Lucenec, captured the railway junctions of Rimavska, Sobota and Feled, besides 30 other places, says a Soviet communique. The Russians in Hungary, south-east of Gyongyos, captured 60 places. Yesterday they captured 1490 Germans and Hungarians.