Mannstein’s Annies Virtually Cut in Two

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 64, 18 March 1944, Page 5

Mannstein’s Annies Virtually Cut in Two

LONDON, March 16. The Russians have cut Mannstein’s main communication line running down to Odessa, by capturing the railway station of Vapnyarka. This is announced in a special Order of the Day by Marshal Stalin, and this new success means that the Germans retreating on the middle Ukrainian front have been deprived of their last escape route. This blow virtually splits Mannstein’s armies in two and brings the main Russian force within 27 miles of the Dniester. Earlier news from this battlefront showed that squadrons of Russian cavalry, rushing ahead of Marshal Koniev’s tanks and artillery, had reached a point 25 miles from this river, the last natural defence line for the Nazis before the province of Bessarabia. There are no signs that the Germans have been offering anything more thaa spasmodic resistance since their defence Line along the Bug was broken, and the Russian advance is proceeding almost without hindrance. The Germans themselves make no attempt to hide the fact that they are retreating on a major scale. To-clay's German communique speaks of disengagement moves still proceeding, with heavy defensive fighting against the Russians, who are hotly following. A message of the German overseas news agency says that the adjustment of the front has not yet come to an end. At the eastern end of the Ukraiman front, also, things are going badly for the Germans. So\*.et troops converging on Nikolaiev were last reported to be less than 10 miles from it and in the next sector the trapped German divisions have been methodically wiped out. On the upper reaches of the Bug Vinnitsa is closely invested and cannoo hold out much longer. At one point the Russians are within five miles of it. At the western end of the front the Germans are still fighting hard at Proskurov and Tarnopol, but their counterattacks are costing them heavy casualties, and they have not gained any groimd. The latest news says that the Russians have completely smashed the resistance of the trapped German divisions and that Russian columns have reached the Bug above Nikolaiev. The capture of Vapnyarka cuts the Important railway between Zlimerinka and Odessa. Reuter points out that the Odessa- Vapnyarka-Zlimerinka railway already had been cut above Proskurov, but the capture of Vapnyarka means that the German traffic from Odessa to Poland and northwards must now be diverted into Rumania at the Slobodka junction. Slobodka is 50 miles down the Zhmerinka-Odessa railway below Vapnyarka and is already gravely threatened by the Russian breakthrough across the Bug. Koniev’s spearheads were last re ported 20 miles from Slobodka. The British United Press Moscow correspondent declares that the Russian break-through across the Bug yesterday has prevented the Germans from making a major stand beiore they reach the Dniester. This wholesale breakthrough sealed the fate of Vinnitsa and will enable the Russians to switch southwards and sweep down against Odessa. The Red Army is maintaining the speed of its pursuit and not allowing the enemy to reform. The Germans along the whole Ukraine line are frantically pulling out units and rushing them back to what they hope will prove better positions for defence. The break-through over the Bug was a classic operation. Koniev had the choice of wiping out the German forces resisting on the east bank or thrusting across the river directly he found an opening. He chose the latter course and swept across the river, formed a screen from mobile units, and held off the Germans while the main body of troops crossed. At only one point are the Germans fighting back with the apparent intention of holding ground. That is in the Prcskurov-Tarnopol sector where they are still rushing up reinforcements ol men, tanks and guns in the effort to beat back Zhukov’s inexorable advance. According to the Berlin radSfcone million German civilians who had to I leave the regions around Jitcmir and

Berdichev have been resettled in Poland. The radio said the Red Air Force frequently attacked trains carrying repatriates and partisans mined the railway lines causing considerable losses and casualties.