BEING SMASHED

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

BEING SMASHED

GERMAN OFFENSIVE LITTLE GROUND GAINED

Recd. 6 p.m. London, Nov. 18 Reuter’s correspondent declares that the German strokes against General V atutin s left flank are being smashed in most sectors. Only a little ground has been given, and von Mannstein’s spearhead has dug only slightly into the Russian lines south-east of Zhitomir.

Morley Richards, the Daily Express military writer, says that tnsi is tne Germans' last chance to avoid catastrophe.

in addition to keeping open' the Dnieper oemi corridor, me Germans are crying to prevent taeir lorces irom being split in two. The continuation ot the Russian drive west ot znitomir would mean tnat halt the German apmy woula tie driven oack into Rumania and tne otner halt into rolanu.

Moscow corresponaents point out that tne Rusisans’ bridgeneaa across the Dnieper now extends trom the Gomel area through Kiev and as tar as Fereaslav.

Reuter reports that the Russians have t elauncned their oftensive in the Dnieper bend, where the Germans now noid only a small corner Between the river and the Zaporozhe-Nikopol railway.

In fighting as bloody as any waged in this years campaign, massive German panzer and infantry forces are still trenziedly battling against the south flank of General Vatutin's wedge in an all-out effort to recapture Zhitomir, which the Russians over-ran five days ago. The Red Army is undergoing its stillest test since it broke the German lines at Orel and Byelgorod four montns ago, says tne Moscow correspondent ot me National Broadcasting Corporation. The Germans are using huge lorces and trying to break up tne Russian salient west of Kiev.

Althougn relatively small air forces are in action, a tremendous ground battle has developed. The British United Press correspondent reports that fresh German reinforcements are still being tnrown into battle. German tank forces south-east of Zhitomir are making powerful attempts to crush the Russian artillery and attack the infantry behind the guns, but the Red Army gunners are lacing assault nrmly and tearing great gaps in the enemy’s tank units. The Germans apparently believe that the recapture ot Zhitomir would be the best means of stopping the great Russian drive through the Ukraine. The toughness of the German counter-attacks underlines the fact that the Red Army’s advance has not been the result of a series of victoryparades, but of hard fighting.