INITIATIVE WITH RUSSIANS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 276, 22 November 1943, Page 5

INITIATIVE WITH RUSSIANS

WITHDRAWAL, FROM ZHITOMIR PRESSURE KEPT UP ON GERMANS (By Telegraph—Pre» Association—Copyrighti Recd. 8.50 p.m. London, Nov. 20. Moscow radio says that German counter-attacks have changed nothing in the general situation on the Russian front and the initiative is still firmly in Russian hands. Moscow opinion considers that the loss of Zhitomir is not likely to have any real repercussions on the High Command’s plan to continue the advance into the Western Ukraine, says the British United Press correspondent. General Vatutin, through pulling back the south-western tip of his left flank from Zhitomir, left his flank intact and was able to maintain pressure against the weaker German positions at Korosten and Ovruch. The Russians consolidated their positions west of Ovruch but fighting continues with great ferocity, the Germans launching frequent counter-attacks.

The German news agency’s military correspondent admits the general situation west of Kiev has not been basically changed by the recapture of Zhitomir.

The Red Star reports that the new bridgeheads across the Dnieper at Cherkesy, south of Kiev, are rapidly being enlarged into wide gates, threatening the German communications. The Red Army is fighting within a mile of Cherkesy, which is the centre of German resistance and is exceptionally heavily fortified. Paris radio’s commentator Jean Paquis says the Russians have reached a point 40 miles west of Ryechitsa in their drive to the Polish frontier. German forces on the north flank of the Neval sector were withdrawn according to plan to shorten the the fronts, reports Berlin radio’s commentator Von Hammer.

In a special Order of the Day Marshal Stalin yesterday announced another big success for the Russian army. This is the capture of the road junction of Ovruch, 25 miles north of Korosten.

The Russian armies in the Kiev bulge scored another big success in the capture of Ovruch, which is the lateral railway linking the western Ukraine with White Russia. With Ovruch and Korosten both in Russian hands, the German armies in the centre and the south have lost their last rail link, and a correspondent points out that the prospect of escape for the Germans still fighting on the northern flank of the Kiev bulge has become even more remote. Behind them they have the-Pripet Marshes, difficult terrain in which to fight, and where guerrillas are better armed and stronger than almost anywhere else in Russia. They know their way through every part of the marshes, and give the Germans no respite. In announcing the capture of Ovruch, Marshal Stalin . said that troops of theXFirst Ukrainian Front, as the result of a swift attack, gained possession of the ‘town. The order said that, in particular, an air-borne division distinguished itself in the battle. It is not stated how tne airborne troop." were used, whether they landed in the enemy’s rear or whether they were flown up from the Russian rear to overcome the handicap of long and newly-acquired supply lines from which at present the Red Army must suffer. Across the Pripet Marshes the Russians are exploiting their victory at Ryechitea, which threatens to turn the German line in White Russia. They have almost completely encircled Gomel.

The latest Soviet communique announces two new developments. South of Korosten, where the Germans have been counter-attacking the flank of the Russian bulge, the Russian troops have been withdrawn from Zhitomir, the town they captured just a week ago. Further east, the Russian armies have won a new bridgehead over the Dnieper near Cherkasy, between Kiev and Kremenchug. They are fighting on the approaches of Cherkasy. This means in effect that the Kiev bulge has shifted northwards, and at the same time this Cherkasy crossing may develop into a new threat to the German flank near Fastov.

The communique says that Zhitomir had to be abandoned owing to the 1 disadvantageous nature of the post-' tions which the Russians held. Zhitomir is linked with Kiev by a trunk! road but not directly by rail, and the Russians had a long and exposed ] flank. Thev have now taken up better positions. 1 The northern flank has never been exposed to the same risk, and the Germans held only a narrow corridor of campaigning ground backed by the Pripet Marshes. The capture of Ovruch makes the enemy positions on this flank even more precarious. Violent fighting is going on along the whole front from the Zaporozhe area to Nevel, but the conflict is fiercest at Gomel, where the German garrison has been encircled, Korosten. from which the Russians are rushing on westwards, and the Zhitomir area, where the German counter-attacks have been beaten back. RUSSIAN BRIDGEHEADS OVER DNIEPER Recd. 6 p.m. London, Nov. 19. The Russians a fortnight ago held a bridgehead of 700 or 800 square miles on the west bank of the Dnieper above Kiev. The Russians to-day, as they approach the Beresina River, occupy 10,000 square miles on the west bank of the Dnieper. They hold almost the whole area below the Beresina River bordered on the west by the Zhitomir-Mosir railway and o.i the south by a zig-zag front from Kiev to Zhitomir. The capture of Koresten opens up new vistas for the Red Army. Red Star says that the capture of the place enables the Russians to manoeuvre reserves for new and important strategic operations. Moscow radio revealed that the divisions which relieved Stalingrad a year ago are participating in the great drive west of the Dnieper. The radio added that the Stalingrad offensive had changed the whole course of the war.