STRONG RUSSIAN ATTACKS ON CENTRAL SECTORS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 9, 6 October 1943, Page 5

STRONG RUSSIAN ATTACKS ON CENTRAL SECTORS

’ Enemy Throws In Tank Forces

PAUSE IN SOUTH WHILE ARMIES REINFORCE <Bv Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.! (Received October 5, 7.20 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 4. The Red Army, racing the autumn rains, is concentrating all its energies in an attempt to roll over the German strongholds of Mogilev and Gomel and breach Field-Marshal Von Kluge’s defensive line in White Russia. While the two crucial drives against Gomel and Mogilev are forcing a way toward the objectives, the Red Army is holding its hand in the north against Vitebsk, and there is a pause also in the fighting opposite Kiev and along the Dnieper.

Only about, 20 miles separates the spearheads of the Russian columns from Mogilev, but the country is veined with rivers, each of which is a German rampart as well as a physical obstacle. The battle for Mogilev is being fought out on the north bank of the Soj River below Cherikov, in the small area Iboundecl by rivers, railways, and highways. The Germans here are putting up a most strenuous defence in an effort to hold the northern bank of the Soj. Penetration by the Russians would open up the possibility of rolling back the German right wing. Stiffened by a steel framework of Tiger tanks and mobile guns, the Germans are bitterly resisting the Soviet advance, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. After crossing the Pronya River north and south of the main railway to Mogilev, the Russians have made.a new crossing at an undisclosed point and now threaten Mogilev on a wide arc less than 30 miles from the city. Heavy tank engagements ‘are reported on the approaches to Gomel, where the Germans are using the latest MarkjV tanks armed with a 75-millimetre gun and claimed to be more manoeuvrable than the Tiger. “Local Engagements.” Tonight’s Russian communique simply says: “The Russians in the Gomel. Mogilev, and Vitebsk directions considerably improved their positions in local engagements. Intense reconnaissance activity and artillery exchanges occurred on the other fronts.” The Russian commanders on the middle and: lower Dnieper are believed to be bringing up reinforcements and regroup- . ing their forces before attempting largescale crossings of the river. The Germans are hitting back hard and are also endeavouring to group their forces to meet a new Russian surge forward. The Germans are likewise fighting hard to save the last railway from the Crimea. The Red Army on the Taman Peninsula i.s now 10 miles from Taman Bay. Correspondents say that this campaign appears to be all but won.