GERMAN RETREAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 January 1944, Page 3

GERMAN RETREAT

FROM ALL DNIEPER POSITIONS ANTICIPATED IN LONDON. BUT ENEMY STILL CLINGING TO BEND. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) RUGBY, January 6. Now that the Russians have captured Tarashcha, military commentators in London think the Germans will have to draw back from all their positions on the right bank of the Dnieper from Kiev to Cherkasy. There are no signs yet that the Germans intend to leave the Dnieper bend. They may be staying there for two reasons —first, Hitler may have told them not to yield an inch of Russian soil; second, they may feel in no particular danger because they think the situation will be restored.

It is interesting to note that a German military spokesman has discussed the advantages of fighting on two ■fronts. London opinion is that this hints at the possible splitting of the German armies by the Russian thrust towards Rovno and Sarny. It is made clear, however, that it is wrong to think there is any parallel in the present situation to that of Stalingrad. There a German Army was surrounded, cut off and destroyed. If a split occurs, each German army will operate independently, with its lines of communications to its main bases intact.