TOWARD DANZIG

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 201, 23 August 1944, Page 5

TOWARD DANZIG

NEW RUSSIAN DRIVE OUTFLANKING THREAT TO WARSAW London, Aug. 21. Marshal Rokossovsky's forces have begun a new drive north-westward which may develop into a Jong-range thrust toward the Baltic coast at Dan:ig through the former Polish Corridor. aimed at cutting off East Prussia and the vast German forces tied up n the Baltic States, says Reuter's loscow correspondent. Further south Koniev’s forces, with ,’hich Rokossovsky obviously is iosely collaborating, is pressing forward in a distant outflanking threat .o Warsaw with his main forces asembled on the west bank of the Visala. 120 miles south of the capital. The German news agency to-day luted that the Red Army had secured i third bridgehead over the Vistula in lie area of Karzimerz, 35 miies from Rodom. The existence of breaches in the German positions in Rumania was admitted to-night by the German news agency commentator, von Clberg, who said the Russians, after heavy attacks, had. scored successes between Tiraspol and Jassy.

Another commentator, Major von Hammer, described the Russian objective as an attempt to crush the whole German position on the Dniester. The British United Press Moscow correspondent reports that tense battles are in progress in north-west-ern Latvia, where the Germans are continuing their offensive between Jelgava and Siauliai aimed at straddling Bagramyan's communications running from Jelgava to the Gulf of Riga. The Germans in this area are reported to be fighting with desperate savagery. The Russian Baltic Fleet has sunk four German destroyers, says tonight's Soviet communique. BIG CLASH COMING GERMANS BUILD UP BALTIC FRONT Recd. 12.X5 a.m. London, Aug. 22. One of the greatest clashes ox the war since Stalingrad is looming up on the Baltic front, says Reuter's Moscow correspondent. The total German force, including the relief expedition, is believed to approximate a quarter of a million, and new reinforcements arriving at the front are thrown straight into the battle. The German Command is concentrating its maximum forces in a desperate effort to attain at least a temporary turning point in the campaign. Two Soviet armies further south, advancing from opposite ends of the vital Warsaw-Blaly slok railway, are now within 30 miles of joining up and completely clearing the Germans from the line. Moscow’s Radio’s war reporter states that German counter-attacks in the area east of Riga have been going on continuously for three days. The Germans, despite heavy losses, continue desperately to resist on their fortified positions. An Izvestia front-line despatch says:—The gunners are not the only ones striking against German territory. It is being hit from the advanced area by mortars and machineguns and is being thoroughly combed by patrols. Fierce battles are going