RAPID RED ARMY DRIVE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 272, 17 November 1943, Page 5

RAPID RED ARMY DRIVE

RUSSIANS NEARING KOROSTEN NEW BATTLE AT KRIVOI ROG (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright; Reed. 7 p.m. London, Nov. .15. The Red Army, keeping up its rapid drive from Zhitomir, is now fanning out northward, westward, and southward toward the Rumanian and Polish borders. Simultaneously the Russians have opened a new battle in the Dnieper bend which German sources say is on a great scale. Observers say that the twin offensives menace the German positions more seriously than ever before. The Russians, using vast forces, have also launched major attacks in the. Rechitsa area and along the Smolensk-Minsk highway. This has effectively pinned down the German reserves in these northern areas and prevented their transport southwards to buttress the strained German positions against the crushing weight of the Russian offensive. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the bulge which General, Vatutin’s army holds is now 112 miles deep and over 50 miles wide.

The formations on the right flank are steadily nearing the great railway junction of Korosten on the north-south railway which may be of greater importance than Zhitomir. One column is rapidly moving «*n Korosten, the fall of which is expected soon. Along the high road from Kiev, Russian cavalry, which is fanning out on the plains between the north-south railway and the Pripet Marshes, threatens to cut off Korosten from the north. The forces pushing northward from Zhitomir are making a third drive against Korosten. To-night’s Moscow communique reports that the Red Army more than 30 places in the Korosten area to-day. It also reports the repuse of many enemy counter-attacks south-east of Zhitomir and west of Fastov, but the most striking news in the communique is an advance south and south-west of Rechitsa.

The Russians to-day captured a station on the line which runs westwards from the enemy fortress of Gomel through Rechitsa to Pinsk. This means that the German garrison at Gomel has lost its main supply route, and that both Gomel and Rechitsa are cut off from all the enemy forces to the west. Earlier news said that while the Russians had been making a vast drive across the plain to Korosten other Soviet forces, advancing up the Kiev-Korosten railway, were last known to be within 15 miles of the town.

If Korosten falls the situation of the communications of the Germans in the huge Dnieper bend salient further south will be very serious. To-night’s German communique says a big new Russian offensive, with 30 divisions, has started in the bend itself. The Germans admit a break-through by strong Soviet tank and infantry forces just above Krivoi Rog. There is no confirmation of this from Moscow, but a correspondent points out that a new Red Army attack would be a logical development of the Soviet success in the Kiev area from which most of the supplies have to come to the enemy forces in the bend.

According to Vichy radio, the additional offensive, which may endanger the whole German position in the south, is assuming gigantic proportions in the Krivoi Rog area. Th? Germans are holding large reserves ready to cope with the situation.

Pravda says that “the military Initiative everywhere is in our hands, or the hands of our allies. Th.? strength of Hitlerite Germany is strained to the utmost, and the Hitlerite coalition is cracking in all its seams. Battles of unprecedented violence are now raging beyond the Dnieper. The first snow has appeared. It will become a death shroud for Hitler’s Germany.**

Russian sources are still silent regarding the progress of the battle within the Dnieper bend, where the Germans said that over 300,000 Russian troops are being employed. The German High Command not only admitted that the Russians were making attempts at a break-through and also that a breach had been made above Krivoi Rog, but did not claim that this breach had been sealed. Captain Sertorlus stated on the German radio that the Russians, advancing with superior forces, gained ground north of Krivoi Rog and were only halted by German counterthrusts. He added that the Russian pressure in this whole sector continued.

The British United Press Moscow correspondent says that the Germans are making their greatest effort in th° Fastov region where enormous forces of tanks, infantry, and cavalrv are Interlocked in battle. The Germans are striving to stem the advance, which is threatening to break the backbone of their communications in the Ukraine. A break-through in this area would bring the Russians almost 250 miles west of the Germans at Kremenchug, in the rear of the big battle for Krivoi Rog. This might enclose the Germans in a Dnieper trap or force a headlong retreat. The correspondent adds that the great winter offc A .e is almost ready. The Russians al , the whole front are consolidating their positions and making their final preparations. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says ttat the Russians now are five miles from the railway between Gomel and Rechitsa and seven miles from Rechitsa itself.