ODER RIVER CROSSED

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23112, 29 January 1945, Page 5

ODER RIVER CROSSED

Move To Encircle Breslau Soviet Armies Moving Forward

By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyrlgtu LONDON, Jan. 26.

Tlie Russians have confirmed German statements that the Red Army has crossed the Oder River. The Moscow radio said that the Red Army had crossed the Oder at several points. The Breslau area and the Upper Silesia industrial area is cut off from all direct roads to the Reich. The Russians have also reached the Oder further to the north-west. A German High Command announcement late to-night said that the Red Army had crossed the Oder at a large number of points over a 75 mile front from Kosel, 25 miles west of Gleiwitz, to Breslau. Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow states that the Russians are making bold efforts to encircle Breslau, key centre of Silesian industry. The Oder River line south of Breslau to Oppeln is flaming from end to end under Marshal Konlev’s artillery fire and a plum-coloured pall is beginning to settle over Breslau. The news that General Rodimstevs Stalingrad Guard veterans, the victors of Byelgorod, Poltava, Kremenchug, Baranov, and Czestochowa are on the Oder will chill the hearts of many German soldiers.

The correspondent added that the Red Army south of Oppeln is nearing the notorious German concentration camp at Oswiecim. Tire Official German News Agency states that Russian shells are bursting on Grieg, on the west bank of the Oder, 23 miles south-east of Breslau. It added that the castle and town hall were ablaze. Thousands of women and children have been evacuated. German Trick Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow states that the Russians, during their overwhelming thrust to Silesia, encountered a German village where every house bore a white flag, and Red Army tanks tore straight through, but when, two hours later, Russian infantrymen arrived, they were greeted With bursts of fire from Germans concealed in attics and cellars. The Germans were liquidated. Red Army railway troops, quickly following up the infantry, are clearing the lines with such speed that trains are already runnifig on German soil. Russian railway and communication experts, long before the Russian offensive opened, made a careful study of what communication points the Germans would wreck, with the result that repairs to the tracks, junctions and bridges are now being completed almost overnight. Many Germans are still hiding in dark Silesian woods, and Russian tommy-gunners are rounding them up in batches and sending them back east to the prison cages. The correspondent added that a Czech Army Corps trained in Russia is in action on Marshal Malinovsky’s front in Czechoslovakia, under General Svoboda. The German Official News Agency’s military commentator said that the German troops manning Breslau’s defence system have withdrawn to new positions. The British United Press to-night stated that the radio stations at Konigsberg, Danzig and Breslau had stopped broadcasting the ordinary German home service. Instead, they were relaying a special forces programme for German troops at the front.

Concern In Berlin

“Now that the Russians have almost reached Brandenburg province, all Berliners look serious,” states the German Official News Agency. “Developments in the east are making themselves felt increasingly acutely and daily.

(The newspapers are appearing as one-sheet editions. City traffic is curtailed, but there is no panic comparable with France in 1940 and Italy in 1943. The Germans show stoicism, combined with determination.”

The Deputy Nazi Press Chief (Sundermann), in a speech to journalists, said: “The Germans are not Herrenvolk. We do not want to conquer foreign countries. All we want is a greater German Reich embracing all Germans.”

The Berlin radio’s commentator, broadcasting from Breslau, said that barricades had been erected in the important streets, and preparations had been made to blow up the Oder bridges. The Berlin radio in a home broadcast said: “Although resistance has stiffened at some points on the Eastern Front, we must be prepared for further disappointments. The names now appearing in the German High Command communiques show us more plainly that our very existence is at stake.”

Referring to the Red Army’s movements in upper Silesia, the German commentator, von Hammer, said: “The Red Army is stepping up its operations to the limit.” Enemy Losses Exceed 380,000

The Moscow radio states that the Soviet Information Bureau reports that during the first 13 days of the Russian offensive on five fronts, more than 380,000 Germans have been killed or captured, of which 295,000 were killed. The Germans lost an immense amount of material, Including 592 aeroplanes, 2995 tanks, 7932 guns, 7386 mortars, 20,019 machine-guns, and 34,019 lorries.

There were comparatively few prisoners taken on the northern fronts, but Marshal Zhukov took more than 37,000 in his great drive into Western Poland. Marshal Koniev captured 31,000 in his advances from the Vistula to German Silesia.

To-night’s Moscow communique states: “Troops of the Second White Russian Army Front to-day in Poland captured 400 places, including Unislaw, 20 miles north-east of Turon. The Russians in the Posen sector captured Rogozno, 20 miles north-east of Posen. The Red Army at three aerodromes and one aircraft factory captured 292 aeroplanes. Troops of the Seventh Ukrainian Front captured 300 places, including Juliusburg, 20 miles north-east of Breslau. The Russians north-west and west of Kosice captured a number of places. The Red Army at Budapest occupied 25 blocks of houses in Buda, and south-west of Budapest repelled heavy tank and infantry attacks.”