EVACUATION OF BRIANSK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 219, 16 September 1943, Page 5

EVACUATION OF BRIANSK

TOWN GIVEN UP BY GERMANS RUSSIANS MAKING MORE PROGRESS (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) Reed. 7 p.m. London, Sept. 15. Briansk, important communication centre west of Orel, has been surrendered and the Red Army, following up this victory, is now widening bridgeheads on the western bank of the Desna River, upon which the Germans hoped to build their defence line from Smolensk to Kiev. South of Briansk converging Russian columns are making forced marches and fighting incessantly toward Roslavl, the capture, of which would cut one of the escape railways to Smolensk. The Germans admit that they have evacuated Briansk, and last night’s Soviet communique reports further good progress on all the main fronts in southern Russia, and the recapture of 390 towns and villages. During the day the Red Army pushed the enemy back 10 miles along the i»rthern shore of the Sea of Azov, and won up to 12 miles west of Stalino. In the north lhe Soviet forces have closed in further on Pavlograd, the big railway junction less than 40 miles from the Dnieper bend.

In the northern Ukraine the spearhead of the Red Army column advancing along the railway from Bachniaeh has reached a point three miles from an important town 75 miles east of Kiev. The communique adds that the Red Army gained more ground in its drive toward Roslavl, which is half-way up the railway from Briansk to Smolensk ; but does not announce the occupation of Briansk, although the German news agency stated yesterday morning that the Germans had evacuated the town on Sunday night. A Moscow correspondent states that there are still some Germans in the town and that they arc being attacked by the Russians.

The position seems to be that part of the enemy garrison was left behind to cover the evacuation and set fire to all buildings of importance before the Soviet troops could get across the Dnieper, which is more than a quarter of a mile widest this point.

The German radio’s military commentator, Captain Sertorius, said that the German Command wc; conducting operations, with elasticity, taking advantage of the spaciousness of the battle area, but the fact remains that. Briansk occupies a strong defensive position and that lhe Germans were compelled to get out because they were being steadily encircled by the Red Army columns. Brinask had been in German hands since October, 1941. The Germans say they have evacuated it because they are aiming at compelling the Russians to pursue them in much greater depth than can be desirable for the Russian Command. All this, it is said, is the result of the German Command’s large-scale evading movements. Berlin claims that all war material and industrial machinery had been evacuated from Briansk. The withdrawal means that the Russians now have in their hands one of the most important railway junctions in Russia and one of the great bastions of the German defence line. The German High Command to-day speaks of heavy street fighting in Novorossisk, the last port in enemy hands in the Kuban.