“BERLIN MAY FALL”

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23114, 31 January 1945, Page 5

“BERLIN MAY FALL”

Warning To German People

Russian Avalanche Still Unchecked

(8 p.m.)

By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright LONDON, January 29.

«WE SHALL FIGHT BEFORE BERLIN, FOR n BERLIN AND BEHIND BERLIN.” THIS WAS A PASSAGE IN A WARNING GIVEN BY THE LABOUR LEADER (DR. ROBERT LEY) TO THE PEOPLE OF THE REICH CAPITAL, INDICATING TO THEM THAT BERLIN MAY FALL. George Schroeder (the German News Agency’s political commentator), in passing on Dr. Ley’s statement over the Berlin radio, also made the first admission by the Germans that Marshal Zhukov has crossed into the province of Brandenburg.

Schroeder also hinted that Hitler will not speak to-morrow, which is the traditional day for one of his speeches. Schroeder said: “There is no reason to suppose that to-morrow will lift the veil on the secret counter-measures by the Wehrmacht now in progress. Security demands continued silence.”

Earlier, the German News Agency announced that Russian tanks were seven miles north-west of Kruez, which is 35 miles south-west of Scheidemuhl. The News Agency said that the Russians were about nine miles inside Germany.

The News Agency also stated that the Russian bridgehead over the Oder at Steinau was now six miles deep. Reuter’s correspondent states that Berlin reported the crossing at Steinau last Wednesday. Steinau is the nearest point to Berlin at which a bridgehead is known to exist.

Only a heavily mauled fragment remains of the German garrison of Posen, says the Moscow correspondent of Reuter’s. Thousands of German troops, some of the cream of the Wehrmacht, are now surrounded on the various sectors of the Russian front. Konigsberg is the most considerable .encirclement, but smaller envelopments are occurring constantly along the whole front.

Colonel von Hammer, over the Berlin radio, expressed the opinion that Marshal Rokossovsky is swinging west for a large-scale bid to encircle Danzig. “Between Chelmno and Marienburg the Russians are continuing their attacks with the object of gaining the entire Vistula line. Their various crossings of the Vistula indicate that they intend driving on to encircle Danzig without delay.”

The opinion that the East Prussian battle had reached dramatic proportions was expressed by Colonel von Hammer, who claimed that the Germans yesterday drove a wedge to Elbing and made contact with the garrison before the evening. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times’’ says the Russians, using the climate and wild weather as an ally, swept so close to the enemy’s last great line that the prospects of a complete German collapse on the Eastern Front are seriously considered in Moscow, and it is being asked whether the Allies are prepared to seize time by the forelock and deal such blows from the ■West that the Red Army's bld to crack the Oder line can succeed. The Berlin radio says that the Russians, in a ruthless array of all their forces, have set in motion masses of men and material unparalleled in all Moscow is fascinated by the rich haul in the Dombrown Coal Basin and factory cities in Upper Silesia, says the Moscow correspondent of the “Daily Mail.’’ Reports keep mentioning "one solid mass of factories” which the Germans thought safe from Allied air attacks. The centre of the German war industry was moved here from the Ruhr in 1942, and the Russians are now gleefully examine the giant steel plants of Krupps and the Hermann Goering works. There is no doubt that the battle of Silesia has been the German war economy's stiffest blow

Battle For Posen • j fighting for Posen has become considerably harder, according to Colonel von Hammer, who said: “Mixed Russian battle groups attacked the German garrison from several sides. They were checked only in the centre of the town where furious house-to-house fighting is raging.” Tire Moscow correspondent of "The Times” says the battle for Posen and urL n > Ksb t lg ' IBVe this in common: while the Red Army has brilliantly closed in on these objectives, it also has been able to anticipate victory, by exploiting the advantages of having pinned down the enemy. Thus Marshal Chernyakovsky at the same time as he . * nves ted Konigsberg is moving steadily west and south to box in what Is left of the East Prussian garrisons and upset any German calculations for an attempt to break out through Marshal Rokossovsky’s lines. Similarly, in western Poland, the envelopment of Posen has been accompanied by a general advance over a broad front. .Commenting on the announcement that General Petrov’s Fourth Ukrainian troops have captured Nowy-targ the Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says that General Petrov’s struggle in Czechoslovakia—one of the A l^, t „'„ dra o n ? tic chapters of the Red , my s whole advance—has been overed the victories in Silesia, Roland and East Prussia p p ]?„v es ß ond , ent says that General hattUfllw 2? forward over the worst „ ®, fleld ’ A Eu . r °Pe so far as weather !?, h° Jjcerned j al Pine troops, ski battalions and motorised infantry are thrusting steadily forward over appalling country, and doing some of their fighting on mountains 9000 feet hitrh Roads in General Petrov's sector in South Poland and Eastern Czechoslovakia never have been vety good They now are practically wiped out by blizzards.

Entry Into Pomerania "The Russians in East Prussia captured more than 100 places Including one two miles north-west of Konigsberg ’’ says to-night's Soviet communique “The Red Army north-west of Allenstein repelled tank and infantry attacks by forces trying to break out to the west. The Russians yesterday captured 130 planes and took prisoner 1300 Germans. The Red Army continued the fight for the annihilation of the Torun garrison and, north-west of Bromberg, captured 60 places. The Russians at Posen continued the fight for the annihilation of the encircled garrison and south-west of Katowice captured 70 places. The Russians occupied 32 blocks of buildings in BudaTwo hundred and three tanks and 116 planes were destroyed along the whole front yesterday.” The Russians have invaded German Pomerania.

M Stalin in an Order of the Day addressed to Marshal Zhukov announced: “Troops of the First. White itns'ilan Front, developing their successful offensive, crossed the German Irnntler north-west and west of Posen and to-day captured Driesen 43 miles south-west of Schpeidemuhl and 95 miles from the of Berlin The Russians, over a front of at least 30 miles, also captured Schonlankc 13 miles south-west of Schneldcmuhl on the main Berlin-Danzig railway, Krurx

(also called Kuatz Kruez), and Woldenburg, 12 miles inside Germany, north-west of the frontier.”

The British United Press points out that with the cutting of the BerlinDanzig line at Schonlanke Germany’s main supply line to its forces fighting on Marshal Zhukov’s right flank has gone.

Marshal Zhukov’s tanks and armour are fanning out across the German border against stiff resistance, says the Moscow correspondent of Reuter’s. Big German reserves sent into action have been unable to prevent fresh inroads into the Reich within 90 miles of Berlin.

A correspondent of “Red Star” with Marshal Zhukov’s army inside Germany said the Russians are moving swiftly forward, suppressing fierce resistance. The Germans at one point threw in two tank divisions and four infantry divisions in a desperate effort to halt Marshal Zhukov’s plunge. Reuter’s correspondent says the Russians are increasingly appreciating the value of the Royal Air Force’s pounding of Berlin, which is now directly related to the Red Army’s advance.

The Moscow correspondent of Reuter’s says that latest reports from the East Prussian front Indicate that Konigsberg is almost surrounded. The German News Agency’s commentator, von Hammer, said that the Russians continue to press forward between the Danube and Lake Velencz. The German lines had to be taken back at several places. The Russians tore two breaches in our lines at Budapest.