RUSSIAN GAINS

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22155, 29 September 1943, Page 3

RUSSIAN GAINS

POSITIONS ON DNIEPER LONDON, Sept. 28 The Russians hold the east bank of the Dnieper from a point south of Dnepropetrovsk up to within a few miles of Kremenchug, according to indications from Moscow. The Germans are still covering the river crossings at Kremenchug and Cherkasy. Between here and Kiev the Red Army has reached the river at many points. Above Kiev the Russians hold the east bank as far as f he point where the river Sosh flows into it 1C miles below Gomel. Russian reports from the extreme southern front say the hopes of escape are fading for all but a minority at the Germans who are struggling to evacuate the Kuban. The Germans are putting up a stiff resis:ance to the Russian drive on Vitebsk, in White Russia, defending every river, stream and ditch and clinging to every hill. The ReJ. Army, however, is still fighting its way forward and last night was 12 miles or more along the railwaylinking Smolensk with Vitebsk. Vitebsk itself is more directly tnreatened from the north-east where Russian troops are pressing through difficult country. Big Fight Expected The Germans are expected to put up a big fight for the city which lies on the main north and south railway behind the enemy lines from the Leningrad front. Its capture would endanger the entire German position in the north. An official announcement from Moscow late last night reported the capture of Katyn, 15 miles west of Smolensk. This was the site of the mass graves of Polish officers, the "discovery” cf which by. the Germans was tlie subject of Russian and German charges and counter-charges. It was also the cause of friction between Russia and Poland.

The Germans are leaving much material behind as they retreat between Gomel and Smolensk, and here Soviet troops have freed about 25,000 Russian civilians whom the Germans were driving back to forced labour. Massive concentrations of Russian guns are hurling a continuous rain of shells across the Dnieper, softening the German lines for a number of thrusts which are developing at widely separated points. Russian planes shuttling across the narrow gap between the two armies are heavily bombing the Germans. Fifty Russian divisions are driving three main sections against White Russia, imperilling the heart of the German line and the vital bases of Vitesbsk, Mogilev and Gomel, which are the gates to Minsk.