BITTEN IN DEEPLY ADVANCE INTO POLAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 7, 10 January 1944, Page 5

BITTEN IN DEEPLY ADVANCE INTO POLAND

Recd. 6 p.m. London, Jan. 7. The Red Army has bitten in deeply and fully established its position in Poland. Vatutin’s forces, along an 80mile front from a point beyond Rokitno to Polonnoye, 50 miles northwest of Berdichev, are accelerating their advance towards the Polish Ukraine and closing in on Sarny and Rovno. The British United Press Moscow correspondent declares that the whole German frontier defences as far south-westward as Ostrog and nearly SO miles from the original Russian break-through west of Olevsk, are crumbling under the Russian blows. He adds that there is little doubt that Vatutin is approaching a stage of the campaign where he hopes to deliver decisive strategic blows. A Reuter correspondent says that according to front-line reports Vatutin’s armv is advancing like an avalanche. The spearhead which captured Rokitno is now approaching Sarny. The Germans are retreating hurriedly towards Shepetovka. A German military spokesman said that the German and Russian armies were poised for decisive battles. “It is undeniable that the German armies are experiencing serious strain,” he said. “We make no attempt to disguise the fact that we have suffered reverses in these gigantic winter battles.” One German spokesman is quoted by the Stockholm Svenska Morgenbiadet’s Berlin correspondent as sayin? that there is a possibility that the German army will be forced to withdraw entirely from Russia in the face of what appears to be a giant Russian offensive along the entire front from Leningrad to the Black Sea. The correspondent adds: “But the Nazis over-emphasised their difficulties sometimes, so that if they achieve a successful counter-stroke ’ they can claim it was accomplished against overwhleming odds.” Approach to Sarny.

The British United Press reports that one of Vatutin’s columns is moving west from Rokitno and already is within 25 miles of Sarny, where the railways from Leningrad, Rigo, Warsaw, and Vilna converge. Other parts of the force mopped up 30 miles of the Korosten-Sarny railway as far as Gorodnitsa.

Vatutin, meanwhile, is consolidating the Red Army’s advance into the Ukraine behind the spearhead piercing Poland.

The Russians in the Ukraine are maintaining three main drives. Firstly, they are pushing on along the railway from Berdichev to Shepetovka, which is the key position for a direct drive against Rovno. Secondly, they are thrusting towards Vinnitsa and Zhmerinka, which are keys to the Germans’ supply system in the area they still hold in south Russia. Thirdly, they are curling back from Belaya Tserkov, southeastwards towards the Cherkasv region, where ten German divisions on the west bank of the Dnieper, if they hold their ground, run a grave risk of encirclement.

The enemy’s Ukraine defences are now hopelessly broken. The Germans are suffering huge losses, and, illequipped to fight a winter campaign, are falling back along a 200-mile front. The magnitude of the German losses is more and more apparent, with every mile of the Russian advance. The enemy’s armoured forces are suffering terrible bloWs. In none of its offensives so far has the Red Army possessed, in its immediate rear, such a good network of communications as it has gained in the Ukraine, where, in the capricious winter, cross-country operations are highly dangerous, says the Moscow correspondent of The Times. The Red Army is still benefiting from what apparently was a major German blunder- a concentration ' of it; armour at Zhitomir and the subsequent retreat westwards way from the southern sectors where so much was new needed. * Reuter’s correspondent si /s that he has not yet met a Russia i who can iemember such freak weather, with day s of thaw in January which is generally the middle of the severe winter, but it is an ill wind that blows nobedj good. The thaw is revealing land mines which the Germans hau hidden under the snow, making ihe work of the Red Army sappers easier. The German news agency’s commentator von Hammer stated that the resumed Russian attacks against Kirovograc had forced the Germans to withdraw in the south-eastern sector from positions on the west bank of the fngu’ River, and also between Berdicnev and the Teterev River. The German formations retired to prepared I coitions in order to escape an inces-

sant hail of fire, thereby abandoning Panushpol. A new offensive in which the German defences in the Kirovograd sector were broken and the capture oi a place only 12 miles Iron?. Sarny arq announced in the Soviet night communique. It says: “Troops of the First Ukrainian Front captured Klesov, a district centre in the Rovno region, 26 miles west of the 1939 Polish border and 12 miles from Sarny, also Yanushpol, 15 miles west of Berdichev, and several district centres in the Vinnitsa region. “Troops of the First Ukrainian Front linked up with Red Army troops holding a bridgehead on the west bank of the Dnieper south of Kiev. “Troops of the Second Ukrainian Front, under General Koniev, went over to the offensive and have broken the enemy’s defences in the Kirovograd sector. The Red Army, in a threeclay offensive, extendea the breakthrough to a width of 60 miles and a depth of 25 miles, liberating more than 120 places, including two district centres in the Kirovograd region. “The Red Army nas surrounded Kirovograd from all sides. Three infantry, one tank, and one motorised division were routed during the battle The enemy suffered heavy casualties.” TRAP BEING CLOSED EAST OF BELAYA TSERKOV Recd. 6 p.m. Rugby, Jan. 7. East of Belaya Tserkov, where the Red Army has forced the Germans back toward the Dnieper, states a Moscow message, the trap is being closed, but the enemy is not surrendering a single point without a fight and has launched bitter counterattacks with strong forces of tanks and caterpillars. The Germans seem willing to sacrifice troops in this way, possibly in the hope of gaining time for operations at Neval. Neva! has become an important base for a general offensive info the Baltic regions. A few days ago it was still under fire from German artillery, which interfered with military traffic acros sthe bridge in the northern suburbs. While the Soviet fortress of Neval grew stronger the German rival fortres: of Sokolniki has become weaker. Besides advancing against Sokolniki from the south, the Russians are also moving forward on a wide front toward the railway between that town and Pustoshka. An announcement to-day says that the Ukraine is once more producing oil for the Red Army, and the first four wells have been restored at Romny.—B.O.W.