DNIEPER FORCED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 October 1943, Page 3

DNIEPER FORCED

UNDER HAIL OF SHELLFIRE VALUABLE AID GIVEN BY GUERILLAS GERMANS ATTACKED STRONGLY IN REAR (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, l Noon) ‘ LONDON, October 8. .The Russians crossed the Dnieper at night time, in huge convoys of boats and rafts, under a hail of shellfire that turned the darkness into day, says a Tass Agency front line correspondent. “The Germans,” he says, “noticed nothing until the first rafts were halfway across the river. Then every German weapon went into action and the Russian artillery replied, intensifying with every minute. Fierce battles broke out when the first Russian units reached the western bank, but they managed to dig in and'to launch attacks which breached the first enemy lines. Fresh reinforcements kept pouring across the river and the Russian forces on the western bank increased steadily, despite strenuous German attempts to throw them back. Pontoon bridges were established and heavy material began crossing. A battle of unprecedented fury flared up as the Germans threw in reinforcements, supported by planes, and multiplied their counter-attacks. Large German infantry and tank forces vainly attempted to deal flanking blows, but the Russians succeeded in establishing a large operational base for further developments. A “Red Star” correspondent reports guerillas gave valuable aid to the Red Army in the forcing of the Dnieper. The guerillas, on the day before the Red Army reached the sector south of Pereyslavl, emerged from the forests and captured a village behind the Germans on the west bank. They also dealt a powerful surprise blow against the German rear and prevented the Germans on the east bank from crossing the river. The Germans, hemmed in by the guerillas and the Red Army, surrendered. The guerillas also seized boats in which the Germans on the east bank had hoped to retreat. Part of the guerilla forces operating on the west bank also later reconnoitred and discovered the most suitable point for the Red Army to make a landing, which enabled the regulars to begin forcing the river immediately after wiping out the enemy on the east bank. GIANT EFFORT GREATEST OFFENSIVE OF ALL TIME. TO DESTROY GERMAN ARMIES. IN RUSSIA. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m.) LONDON, October 8. The greatest offensive of all time is under way tonight as the Red Army surges forward in a giant assault to crack the Rnieper defences and destroy the German armies in Russia, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. Fighting is raging over an 800-mile front, from the Black Sea to north of Vitebsk. The enemy at many points on the north front is menaced with division into isolated sectors and the German High Command is counter-attacking with powerful tank formations and massed infantry, in an effort to break the Russian hold on the three principal bridgeheads on the west bank of the Dneiper—north of Kiev, at Pereyaslavl and south-east of Kremenchug. The latest frontline reports give excellent news of Russian progress in these bridgeheads, where fighting cf extreme fierceness is progressing. Stronger forces of Russian guns and tanks, following up the vanguard, are being ferried across the Dneiper. The Russian High Command’s crossing of the river at three widely-separ-ated points was one of the most daring operations in military history. The Red Army has made further progress in the Nevel region, where they may threaten the Germans north of Lake Ilmen and before Leningrad with a big scale isolation. The Red Army drive to the White Russian line has wrecked effective co-ordination between the German northern and southern armies. MORTAL THREAT TO GERMANS IN CRIMEA. TRIPLE THREAT OF ISOLATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received This Day, 1.0 p.m.) LONDON, October 8. The establishment of a Russian bridgehead on the Pripet confluence has isolated the Germans more completely than ever. The Red Army on the south front, in addition, is hammering at Zaporozhe and Melitopol.

It is too early to predict the outcome of this gigantic battle, but there is clearly a mortal danger to the Germans in the Crimea. The triple threat of isolation has increased along the whole German battlefront, with the northern and central armies divided and a third group almost cut off in the Crimea. The German forces in the Crimea and behind the Dnieper are themselves in acute danger of being split up into small groups. Everything depends on how fast the Russians can expand their ■advance and widen their west bank

Widgeheads. Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhe, which the Germans counted on for winter line bastions, may soon be deathtraps.

Reuter reports that Hitler issued an order of the day on September 17 that the Dnieper positions must be held at all costs. All attempting to retreat will be shot.. The correspondent adds that German officers told the men there were special S.S. units behind the line, with machine-guns, who would shoot anyone leaving the line.