RUSSIANS CLOSING IN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 September 1943, Page 4

RUSSIANS CLOSING IN

ON SMOLENSK AND KIEV EXTENDED GERMAN RETREAT DISCUSSED IN BERLIN. “TOO SOON TO TALK OF WINTER LINE.” (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, September 21. Three vital fortress towns upon which the entire German front hinges are now directly threatened by the Russians—Smolensk, Kiev and Dnepropetrovak. In capturing Chernigov today, the Russians smashed through the last water barrier before the Dnieper line. They have begun closing the trap against Kiev, which the Germans hope to make the anchor of a strong winter line in this sector. General Rokossovsky’s men had to force their way across the Desna and then to fight southward in an outflanking movement. The Russian Spearheads are now less than 25 miles from Kiev and armed forces beyond Slavgorod (half-way between Zaporozhe and Dnepropetrovsk) are less than ten miles from the Dnieper. The Germans are making a desperate effort to concentrate forces for the defence of Kiev, but there is little sign that they will be able. to do more than fight a delaying action, for the Russians are now converging against the city from the east and from the north-east. Guns thundered within 18 miles of Smolensk as the Russians softened up the defences and moved steadily and relentlessly against the German fortress. The column nearest the city is advancing along the main road from Kholto. A column from the Kalinin front, outflanking Smolensk from the north, is moving down the Dvina valley towards the city. The Germans are being forced back on all fronts. More big German withdrawals in Russia, possibly as far as the Polish border, are indicated by the latest reports from Berlin published in the Swedish Press. The “Dagebladet’s” Berlin correspondent quotes authoritative Nazi circles for the statement' that it would be a mistake to assume that the line the Germans are now taking up is to be the winter line. The present German aim, it is added, Is to form a buffer line, and it is too early yet to speak of a winter line. This statement, says the British United Press Stockholm correspondent, is all the more startling since the Nazis are already stressing the gigantic scale or the present shortening of the front, which is something far bigger than previous small-scale withdrawals. The Paris radio’s commentator, Jean Paquis, says the German I’etreat in Russia opens the last chapter in the war. It will probably be a very bloody one, but Germany remains confident.