QUICK SOVIET SUCCESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 January 1944, Page 3

QUICK SOVIET SUCCESS

IN DRIVE INTO PRIPET MARSHES,. Mozir and Kalinovichi Captured FIERCE BATTLE CONTINUES ON RIVER BUG RED ARMY MEN MORE THAN HOLDING THEIR OWN LONDON, JaimaiT 14. The Russians today captured the two German strongholds of Mozir and Kalinovicki in the Pripet Marshes. A special order of the day from Marshal Stalin states that the towns fell to an outflanking move by Soviet troops. Mozir and Kalinovicki guard the only road and. railway through the Pripet Marshes to the German base of Pinsk. Although the advantages were with the enemy, it took the Russians only three days after the opening of their offensive to smash their way through the enemy defences. While tanks and infantry were making a frontal attack, cavalry and motorised troops swept round to the rear of the enemy positions and the German troops who did succeed in getting away have no facilities for getting back to the west by railway. The Pripet Marshes are partly frozen and are a deathtrap in winter to those who do not know them. Further south the Russians are driving forward from Sarny, from Sarny A Soviet communique reports the capture of more than 30 places in the region of Sarny. Still further south, on the southern side of the great Kiev bulge, the Germans are counter-attacking fiercely along the upper reaches of the River Bug in an effort to halt the Russian advance on a vital railway. The enemy is hastily constructing fortifications and both sides are throwing in reinforcements, but the Red Army is more than holding its own.

the Red Army is more than ho