TWIN RUSSIAN DRIVES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 202, 24 August 1944, Page 5

TWIN RUSSIAN DRIVES

NEW ACTIONS IN RUMANIA Recd. 11.15 p.m. London, Aug. 23. Latest news of the fwin Russain drives in Rumania, which, have just been confirmed in Moscow, is that the Russians moved so swiftly that the Germans retreated from the Rumanian fortress town of Jassy so quickly that they left it intact. When Rumanians came from hiding they found the town functioning smoothly under Soviet control. One Russian column struck at Jassy, and another to the south, between the Dniester and the Pruth Rivers. It is believed that the object of these drives is to free the country sweeping down to the mouth of the Danube, and threaten the big Rumanian oil

centre of Ploesti. Russian planes bombed Constanta, big Rumanian oil port on the Black Sea, south of the Danube estuary. The Moscow radio says the Red Air Force, in the mass raid on Constanta, directly hit and sank two transports and nine other vessels and damaged an auxiliary cruiser and four submarines. The Exchange Telegraph's Moscow correspondent states that General Malinovsky’s capture of Jassy has given Russia the most important military and political gain so far in Rumania, He expresses the opinion that the fall of Jassy is bound to hasten Rumania’s exit from the war. An Order of the Day from Marshal Stalin states that the town of Jassy has been taken by Soviet troops. Jassv is in Bessarabia, 120 miles west of the Rumanian frontier, and is an important railway centre. DRIVE TOWARD DANUBE Marshal Stalin, in an Order of the Day addressed to General Tolbukhin, announced a new Russian success on the Rumanian front in addition to the Jassy victory. The second order states: “Troops on the Ukrainian front went over to the offensive under the massed support of artillery and planes and pierced the stronglyfortified, deeply-echeloned enemy - fence south of Bender (also called Tighina) and after three days of offensive battles advanced 42 miles on a front eight miles wide. The Russians liberated over 150 places, including the large centre of Causani.” Reuter, commenting on Stalin’s two Orders of the Day, states that the Russians have now launched a drive toward the Danube. The Red Army, on a front 120 miles long, extending on both sides of the Pruth River, has torn great holes in the German defences and has advanced 37 to 44 miles. The British United Press says that the Russians are pouring south and south-west. General Tolbukhin's spearheads are only 70 miles from Galati and the Danube gateway to