TITANIC NEW BATTLES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 277, 23 November 1943, Page 5

TITANIC NEW BATTLES

RUSSIAN THRUST AT CHERKASSY COUNTER-ATTACKS BY GERMANS (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) Reed. 7.20 p.m. London, Nov. 21. Although the Red Army is still streaming ahead beyond Ryechitsa and headed for the Polish border, new battles have opened up further south which may shortly lead to important changes on the front, says Moscow dispatches. New bitter battles arc raging from Zhitomir to Nikopol with the Red Army striking for fresh strategic points. The heaviest battles at present arc going on near Zhitomir, at Cherkasy, near Dnepropetrovsk, and near Nikopol, reports the British United Press. . The Red Army is making' an effort marked by particular determination against Cherkasy. The Russians are throwing more and more troops across the Dnieper against the city. The Gernian defence positions are gradually falling into Russian hands. The capture of Cherkasy, with Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk, would give the Russians three great Dnieper bases from which to strengthen the offensive into the western Ukraine.

The German counter-attack against the south flank of General Vatutin’s Kiev salient, which is the most determined reply the enemy has made since the start of the autumn campaign, is continuing on a large scale.

Paris radio declared that von Mannstein's counter-offensive now extends over a 100-mile front from Zhitomir to the Dnieper. The latest Russian communique says that the German resistance has been broken south of Kremenchug. In local fighting south-west of Dnepropetrovsk, inside the Dnieper bend, the Russians have taken another enemy strong-point. Soviet forces continue to repel attacks bv German tank and infantry forces and have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy in men and equipment. West of Gomel, in the Ryechitsa area, the Red Army made further advances. In all the day’s fighting, 174 enemy tanks were destroyed or disabled. Earlier news said that Red Army troops were pressing the enemy at widelv scattered points all along the Russian front. The Germans, in their communique, speak of numerous attacks on the Leningrad front south of Lake Ladoga, and also of other attempts by the Red Army to widen the Crimean bridgeheads threatening Kerch. Between these extremes of the front, the Russians are making a triple drive into the Dnieper bend. They are beginning to exploit the new Cherkassy bridgehead over the river between the bend and Kiev. West of Kiev they are still having to cope with powerful German attacks on the Zhitomir highway, but they are pushing out the northern flank of the Kiev bulge, weldint it with a new front that is developing acrossing the Pripet Marshes west of Gomel. The Germans report that Soviet pressure around Gomel is as heavy as ever. Few details of the fighting have come in, but as the campaign develops the importance of the new Cherkassv bridgehead becomes more and more apparent. It is within striking distance of the railway which leads into the heart of the Dnieper bend, and it menaces those Germans inside the bend who dre holding the Russian wedge pointing at Krivoi Rog from Kremenchug, and the force holding the Russians near Fastov and covering the enemy attacks between Zhitomir and Kiev.

The Red Army appears to be making attacks 25 or 30 miles east of Zhitomir, that is, about 60 miles from Kiev. Moscow messages say that the attacks should reach a climax in the next 24 hours. The Russians are still carrying all before them on the northern flank of the bulge. Powerful Red Army columns are moving along the bank of the two great tributaries of the Dnieper, the Pripet and the Beresna. They are threatening to split open the whole German central position, and are leaving Gomel far in their rear.

Reuter’s Moscow correspondent, in a dispatch to-night, said that the Rea Army appeared to be fighting for positions from 25 to 30 miles cast of Zhitomir, but north of Korosten and beyond the range of the Germans’ counter-attack the Russians continued to swing north-west round the Pripet Marshes and deeper into White Russia. One Russian column, driving north from Ryechitsa reached the banks of tne Beresina River in the last few hours. Another column north of Gomel is threatening Zhoblin.

The German news agency's commentator von Hammer, referring to von T'annstein’s counter-attack, declared that the Russians in the Kiev bulge had been forced back 40 miles in 48 hours. “Th n German spearheads are within 40 miles of Kiev," he said. Moscow radio stated that the Germans, after the capture of Zhitomir, were now concentrating on a blow against Korostyshev. Enemy sources say the fiercest Russian attacks at present being launched on the south front are in the Dnieper bend. Von Hammer declared that the Red Army, with the obvious intention of cutting off the Germans in the Dnieper bend, continued its attacks against the bridgehead at Nikopol and north-west of Krivoi Rog.

Moscow radio slated that the Russian offensive at Cherkassy was particularly important. The Germans were suffering irreparable losses in attempting to check this advance. To-night's Soviet communique states that the Russians in the Dnieper bond continued to fight local actions and captured seven strong-noints and also; a railway station. South of Kremen-) chug they captured nine stronglyfortified points. The Pved Army in the Korostyshev are continued to repel tank and infantry attacks, inflicting heavy losses of men and material. The Russians in the Ryechitsa region continued their offensive and captured a number of strong-points. Berlin radio to-night declared: “The German troops in Russia are fighting the hardest battle that the Germans have ever fought for their existence. The Russian winter threatens them. The Germans soldiers, with sacred sobriety, face an agonosing period of death, darkness, and blizzards.” Berlin radio late to-night reported that the Russians had flung in 12 infantry divisions, three tank brigades, and a shock-troop regiment, against the German bridgehead at Nikopol. The Russians north of Krivoi Rog have thrown in 36 infantrv divisions and several tank corps against the German lines.