POWER PILING UP

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 57, 5 September 1944, Page 5

POWER PILING UP

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) ■ Ree. noon. " LONDON,. September 4. The Red Army is preparingl for another all-out attack against Hitler's Eastern Front, with armies built up and refreshed after the great summer offensive. The Moscow correspondent of "The. Times" says a feeling of expectancy hangs over the whole Russian front. The German counter-attacks which characterised August have now died down everywhere except east of Warsaw. In the Baltic region and before the frontier of East Prussia the Red Army is reported to have carried out reconnaissance in force. The question all are asking today is where the next blow will fall.

Much interest "is focused on the combined Zakharov - Rokossovsky front, between Warsaw and Bialystok. The Germans have' shown great nervousness about the Sandomierz bridgehead from which a decisive thrust to Lodz would cut a series of important lines of communication between Warsaw and Breslau, Prague, and Brno. Such a thrust, accompanied by an advance across the north-western communications of Warsaw, would j cancel the importance of more than j j2O German divisions, including five armoured divisions, in the Warsaw region, which at present shield Ger- ! man territory. The Russians" have now : probably built up enough strength before Warsaw to deal with this group of Germans when the main operations are in progress. J The correspondent adds that the battle impending in Poland may be most violent. The disposition of the Russian- forces, especially in southern Poland, is such that an advance to Germany could be speedy if the Germans fail to pin down the Red Army in these battles. Reuters Moscow correspondent reports that the Russians are massing large forces on the roads leading to Hungary from the north-east and I south-east. Russian armoured forces are expected to begin a march to Budapest, on the road from Przemysl, at any moment. The German news agency states that the Russians yesterday launched the expected major attack north-east of Wyszkow. on the Bug, 30 ijiiles. northeast of Warsaw. They attacked on a broad front aiid achieved small breaches. The Second Ukrainian Army has pushed into the Transylvanian Alps, reaching the crest between Ploesti and Brasov, where the Hungarians and Germans are believed to be marshalled in large numbers, says the Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press. . Apart from ~these gains and some activity west of Ploesti, the front from ■ the northern slopes of the Carpathians to Estonia is" fairly quiet.