EXTENDING RAPIDLY RED ARMY THRUSTS INTO GERMAN DEFENCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 January 1944, Page 3

EXTENDING RAPIDLY

RED ARMY THRUSTS INTO GERMAN DEFENCES

In Pripet Marshes and Further South DRIVE INTO HEART OF ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS TREMENDOUS SPEED & PRESSURE MAINTAINED LONDON,' January 13. In- their new offensive on the central front, Russian troops are now within five miles of Mosir, a German base at the eastern end of the Pripet Marshes. T]ie Russian onslaughts from the east on the Pripet Marshes are closely linked with a big movement well to the south-west, where forces of General Vatutin’s army, many miles beyond the • pre-war Polish border, are striking up a road from Sarny toward Pinsk, which guards the marshes at the western end. Sarny itself fell yesterday. . , General Vatutin’s men were reported last night to be only 30 miles from, the famous town of Pinsk, and they are still advancing fast. This brilliant strategic move, says a correspondent, threatens to cut the main line supplying the whole oi • the German forces on the Pripet Marshes front. If the Russians reach Pinsk, or cut the 150-mile railway between there and Mosir, the Germans will be left floundering in the south Pripet ' A Moscow communique reports fresh gains by the Russian armies across the 1939 Polish frontier. Several places west and south-west of Sarny were captured today. The Red Army took 40 places.in the area round Mosir. A German-controlled news agency admits that the Red Army has penetrated the German positions west of Mosir and has reached the town’s defences at several points. The Germans are bringing up reserves to meet this threat. Across the Polish frontier, General Vatutin s cavalry and • motorised infantry are in hot pursuit of the enemy, who has left bridges intact and abandoned, quantities of supplies. .. The German news agency reports grim and bitter fighting in this • area, agains the advancing Soviet columns, which have been reinforced. -n Further south, on the northern bank of the River Bug, the Germans are counter-attacking with strong forces and are throwing in every tank they can find in a final bid to save the Lwow-Odessa railway line. . . Correspondents in Moscow state that the Russian drive is being kept up with relentless speed and pressure. Soviet forces are giving the enemy no time to reorganise and threaten to outflank the whole of the German defence positions in White 'Russia.