CAPTURED BY RUSSIANS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 275, 20 November 1943, Page 5

CAPTURED BY RUSSIANS

IMPORTANT RAILWAY TOWNS GOMEL VIRTUALLY ENCIRCLED, (By Telegraph—Pre* Association—Copyright) Reed. 9.30 p.m. London, Nov. 19. The Russians have scored two great successes within 24 hours by capturing the important railway towns of Korosten and Ryechitsa. The fall of Korosten was announced in a special Order of the Day by Marshal Stalin. The, city was taken by troops pf the first Ukrainian front after two days of fighting. , Korosten, which is more than 100 miles north-west Kiev, is one of the most important railway junctions in the western Ukraine. Through it pass two vital supply lines—the north-south Leningrad-Odessa railway, and the Kiev-Warsaw line running from east to west. The Leningrad line was cut a few days ago by the Russians when they captured Zhitomir, but the Warsaw railway was still under German control.

Tins swift blow at the German communications in the Ukraine means that the enemy forces opposing the great Russian drive beyond Kiev will now have to rely on roundabout single-track routes. °

The other great Russian success is the capture of Ryechitsa, 150 miles above Kiev. This also was announced by Marshal Stalin in a special Order of the Day. The town fell after three days of fierce fighting. Ryechitsa has so far guarded the western approaches to Gomel, one of the key German fortresses on the White Russia front. Now that it is in Russian hands the Red Army will be free to converge on Gomel from the west.

This town is already seriously tnreatened by Soviet forces to the north, and Russian artillery is now Domoarding the Germans’ last road an r p. rra w ou t of ths fortress. 1 he Red Army troops who captured Korosten and Ryechitsa were honoured last night by salvos from 124 of the guns of Moscow.

50 miles below Korosten it is J?®. Germans who are attacking, ineir counter-blow against the Russians near Zhitomir is increasing in violence and weight. The enemy is throwing in what is described as huge forces of tanks and infantry in a determined attempt to break up the great wedge driven by Red Army men tar across the plains beyond Kiev. ~ T 1 Germans are concentrating their effort against the southern flank of this wedge. The attack was not unexpected, for if the Russian advance in this area had continued much fuurther it wou'd have cut the main German supply line to all their forces in the Dnieper bend further south. A correspondent describes the German counter-attacks as "quite serious.” The Nazis massed some of their panzer troops on a front of about 15 miles, ana nave been throwing in punch after punch all along this area in search of a soft spot. In most places they were hurled back, but at cne point they found a sector defended mainly oy Soviet riflemen. They ’threw in more than 100 tanks, two regiments of infantry, and armoured troops against the Russians, and although the riflemen fought stubbornly ior several hours there could be cniy one end to such an unequal fight. The Russians had to withdraw to new positions. The correspondent says that the extent of the withdrawal is not known, but the Germans are obviously determined to try to force home ineir advantage. Tney are stilll intensifying the attacks, and fierce fighting lies ahead.

The correspondent declares that it is a tense moment in the battle of the south. A very great oeal depends on its outcome.

Tile renewed Russian offensive in the Dnieper bend is making steady progress. Red Army men advancing south-west of Dnepropetrovsk are now less than 20 miles from Nikopol, the German stronghold on the Dnieper which bars the way for Russian forces grouped on the far bank of the river. The enemy escape railway from Zaporozhe to Nikopol is now witmn range of Russian guns, and it is unlike.y that the Germans will be able to move out more traffic along it. The Russian supplementary communique detailing the capture of Ryechitsa says:—"Soviet troops entered the town simultaneously from the nortn-west and the south-west and routed the enemy in street fighting. Individual enemy groups attempting to reach the west bank of the Dnieper by rafts and boats were wiped out. "in the Zhitomir and Zhorostyshev area the Germans launched twelve tank attacks, flinging in one tank group after another in an all-out bid to break our defences. All enemy, attacks were repelled in a grim battle lasting throughout the day. Forty German tanks, nine self-propelled guns and 11 armoured transports were destroyed.”