MIGHTY RUSSIAN DRIVE

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22460, 22 September 1944, Page 3

MIGHTY RUSSIAN DRIVE

BATTLES ON BALTIC FRONT FALL OF RIGA AND TALLINN LIKELY SWEEP THROUGH 1800 CENTRES (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Sept. 22, 1 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 21. To all intents and purposes Hitler’s Baltic Front is now no more and the problem confronting the German generals is what can be saved, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The heavy battles of the last few days on the Baltic front have resolved into a mighty Russian double drive against Tallinn and a steady battering of the defences in front of Riga. The fall of both cities is likely to transform the Russian Baltic campaign into another Crimea, with the Germans having little possibility of evacuating by sea.

Two Russian Baltic forces in the last five days have swept through more than 1800 towns and villages, relentlessly pressing back the Germans towards the sea.

The German panzer attacks in the Jelgava area are waning, suggesting that the Germans have given up the idea of forming a bolt position south-east of Jelgava. The British United Press’ Moscow correspondent 6ays that an Estonian Army Corps, under Lieutenant-General Perla, is participating in the liberation of Estonia. The Berlin radio says that the Russians are using more than 60 divisions in the Baltic offensive.

The Red Army is making simultaneous attempts to cross the Vistula river north and south of Warsaw and from Praga. The Russians south-west of Krosno on September 21, after several days’ heavy fighting, penetrated the German Fronhone front.