CRUCIAL BATTLE FOR DNIEPER BEND

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 21, 20 October 1943, Page 5

CRUCIAL BATTLE FOR DNIEPER BEND

Hitler Tells Germans To Stand Or Die FORTRESS OR DEATH-TRAP? (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received October 19, 8.5 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 18. The battle for the Dnieper crossings has become a battle for the Dnieper bend, with the Russians concentrating masses of men in an effort to turn the German stronghold into a death-trap, while the Germans struggle desperately to hold key positions or at least to gain time for a withdrawal. Heavily-armoured Russian columns are battering their way into the river bend through the gap which was torn in the German lines south-east of Kremenchug, and they are grinding down the German defences on both sides of the 30mile gap in bloody fighting.

Moscow correspondents sny that a vast Russian plan is unfolding which, at its most successful, could result in the destruction of the German strength on a greater scale than Stalingrad. The thrust through Kremenchug, the storming of Melitopol, and the blow aimed at severing the railways west of Dnepropetrovsk are all part of one grand operation.

Reuter says that Melitopol has become a huge graveyard for the Germans. Reinforcements from other fronts and survivors from the Kuban divisions are. being steadily wiped out, and the Russians are taking few prisoners. The Germans, even while they were fighting in th<j streets io hold off the Russian storm detachments, executed 175 families in a school building in Melitopol. Other Russians are clashing against disorganized German forces in a thrust for the most northerly of the two railways which run west of Dnepetropetrovsk. As the Russian wedge thrusts forward over German dead and masses of wrecked equipment, the Germans are fighting hard to hold on to their crumbling lateral defences and reform. The Germans are rushing up reinforcements, including troops brought by air, and are switching reserves in an effort to seal off the gap before the Red Army smashes to the rear of von Mannsteins hard-pressed forces fighting within the Dnieper bend, but the Russian pressure is relentless and is giving the Gormans no respite, and the artillery and Slonnoviks are taking a toll of the German reinforcements before they arc in the line. “Must Not Pass.”

A special order of the day from Herr Hitler has ordered: “Not a stop back on this line. You are defending your families. If you want them to live you must die —but the Russians must not pass.” One prisoner said: “The soaked earth smells of our blood.” Reports from the front say that Russians above Melitopol are already 30 miles down the railway, from Zaporozhe. Tho Russians, by forcing the Dneiper below Gomel, have split the Fatherland Line from the Dneiper front, and are widening the breach and strengthening their hold on the network of communications.

The latest Russian crossing of tho Dnieper south-west of Gomel and the subsequent advance northward brings them to a point 27 miles west of Gomel, says a Moscow correspondent. Tonight’s Soviet communique says that Russians, continued to fight stubborn battles in Melitopol, inflicting heavy losses against the enemy. The Russians southeast of Kremenchug continued to develop the offensive and advanced three to four milps. North of Kiev the Russians were engaged in repelling enemy infantry and tank counterattacks and extended their bridgeheads on the right bank of the Dnieper. The Russians south of Gomel continued to extend their bridgeheads on the right bank of the Sozh River, and there was successful fighting on the west bank of the Dnieper south of Rechitsu.

Yesterday on all fronts the Russians destroyed or disabled 171 German tanks, while 45 enemy aircraft were destroyed.