Breakthrough on Front of 110 Miles

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 54, 7 March 1944, Page 5

Breakthrough on Front of 110 Miles

LONDON, March 5. In the Western Ukraine the Red Army has broken right through the German defences, and is fighting on the approaches to a station on the vital railway linking Odessa and the Dniepei Bend with the west. The station threatened is Volochisk where the railway crosses the 1932 Polish border, 60 miles southwest of Shepetovka and 25 miles east of Tarnopol. This news was given in an Order oi the Day from Marshal Stalin to Marshal Zukhov, who has replaced General Vatutin in command of the Pirst Ukrainian Front. The Russians have broken through the strong German defence line on a front of more than 110 miles, and in two days’ offensive fighting have swept forward from 15 to 30 miles. They have defeated four German tank divisions and eight infantry divisions, and have occupied more than 500 places. The Russian armies are also keeping up the pressure in the northern offensive. Commenting on the new offensive in the Ukraine, the Berlin communique speaks of superior Soviet forces ol tanks and infantry and says that they launched an attack after a powerful artillery preparation. it says the Rusisans broke through the German lines at various points and that bitter fighting is going on. A Berlin commentator reported that the Russians were using 12 or 14 infantry divisions and throe armoured corps on a wide front, and that the German infantry had been forced back to the line of the artillery batteries. Shepetovka is on the southern flank of the great western wedge which was driven in by General Vatutin’s forces. A Russian thrust from there would threaten the whole German position along the River Bug as well as the life-line linking Odessa and the Dnieper Bend with the west. Moscow reports say that the Germans after losing more than 1000 aircraft last month are now using a bigger proportion of heavier types. They are using also a new and lighter model oi the FWI9O, stripped of part of its armour and armament to make it more manoeuvrable. BATTLE OP TWO RIVERS The battle for Pskov has at the moment become a battle for two rivers, says the British United Press Moscow correspondent. Most ferocious fighting is going on five miles southeast of the town at the confluence of the Velikaya Stiver, which runs north and south, and the Chercakha River, running from cast to west. The Velikaya River penetrates the town of Pskov and runs into Pskov Lake. The Germans have based their main fortifications for the defence of Pskov from the south on the confluence of the rivers. The Russians are hotly contesting these positions, and the battle is fanning out along both sides of both rivers. If the Red Army breaks the river defence line the Germans will scarcely be able to prevent the Russians from surging westwards and then doubling back around the rear of Pskov. The onemy, in order to prevent an outflanking move, is still throwing in reinf orcoments. The correspondent says the whole situation in the past 48 hours has deteriorated for the Germans. The Red Army, after its latest breakthrough on!