GREAT VICT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 February 1944, Page 3

GREAT VICT

NIKOPOL STORMED AND CAPTURED BY RED ARMY And German Bridgehead on Lower Dnieper Wiped Out RUSSIAN THRUST TOWARDS ESTUARY ENEMY RETREAT TENDING TO BECOME ROUT LONDON, February 8. THE RUSSIANS HAVE HAD ANOTHER VICTORIOUS DAY IN THE BATTLE OF THE DNIEPER BEND. THEY HAVE CAPTURED THE GREAT MANGANESE CENTRE OF NIKOPOL, TO WHICH THE GERMANS HAVE BEEN CLINGING SO TENACIOUSLY SINCE LAST AUTUMN. THE ENEMY BRIDGEHEAD ON THE LOWER DNIEPER, OPPOSITE NIKOPOL, HAS ALSO BEEN COMPLETELY WIPED OUT. THESE NEW SUCCESSES WERE ANNOUNCED BY MARSHAL STALIN IN TWO SEPARATE ORDERS OF THE DAY ISSUED WITHIN AN HOUR OF ONE ANOTHER.

Marshal Stalin’s first order of the day stated that the Russians launched a new offensive against the enemy bridgehead four days ago. This bridgehead was 75 miles wide and about 22 miles in depth. The Germans had fortified it in very great strength. Russian forces of the Ukrainian Fourth Front stormed their way through to the bank of the river in spite of strong resistance by seven German infantry divisions. They captured over 40 inhabited places. Less than an hour later, a second order of the day from Marshal Stalin announced the fall of Nikopol itself. Two Russian armies—the Ukrainian Third and Fourth Fronts — joined forces and fought their way into the centre of the city through blazing streets. The centre of the city was jammed with hastily loaded army trucks and other heavy equipment which the Germans had been unable to get away in time. BETWEEN NIKOPOL AND KRIVOI ROG OTHER RUSSIAN TROOPS ARE DRIVING DOWN TOWARDS THE DNIEPER ESTUARY AND THE ENEMY RETREAT IN THIS AREA SHOWS SIGNS OF DEVELOPING INTO A ROUT. There is little news so far of the fighting on the northern front, but one report states that the town of Narva, in Estonia, is now being shelled by Russian guns.