FRESH GAPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1943, Page 4

FRESH GAPS

LIKELY TO BE TORN IN GERMAN LINE RUSSIANS ATTACKING KEY POINTS FROM SEA OF AZOV TO NORTH (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.55 a.m.) LONDON, October 11. The Russians are attacking key points of the new German defence line from the Sea of Azov region to the northern front, where the Soviet spearheads are less than 80 miles from the Latvian border. One cf the greatest battles of the Rus-sian-German war is being fought out on the Middle Dnieper, where the Russians are determinedly extending their bridgeheads. New Dnieper crossings now appear likely to tear fresh gaps in the German lines. The Russians are threatening to cut off the Germans’ Crimea gains, which were won at a heavy cost in the first nine months of the war. The Russians arc also menacing Kiev, Gomel and the German positions around Vitebsk. In the south the Germans in the Crimea arc menaced by two Russian forces—one on the north side of the Sea of Azov and the other to the south. ONSET IN SOUTH REPORTED BY GERMANS SOVIET TROOPS FANNING OUT WEST OF DNIEPER (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 11. The Germans report fierce Russian attacks on the Nogaisk steppe, particularly between Melitopol and Zaporozhe, adding that the Russians are using at least ten rifle divisions and a number of tank brigades. Moscow despatches say the Russians on the Middle Dnieper are fanning out from their bridgeheads and forming a continuous line along the west bank of the river. The Red Army’s task has been made easier at many points by the withdrawal of German artillery to positions from which the river is beyond its range. . DEFENCES OF KIEV SAID TO HAVE FALLEN RUSSIANS FAR BEYOND DNIEPER (Received This Day, 1.10 p.m.) LONDON, October 11. The Associated Press declares that the German line north of Kiev has fallen and the British United Press reports that the Russians have pierced in depth the semicircular outer defences of Kiev. The “Pravda” says that the Russians have captured the enemy's defence zone on the west bank of the Dnieper and fought their way far beyond the river and occupied dozens of villages. The newspaper adds that the breach is so wide that two entire .infantry formations, probably divisions, fully equipped with anti-tank guns and mortars, have gone through the enemy's lines. The battle now is not so much for the Dnieper as for high hills and important positions west of the river. The break through may well mean the fall of Kiev. Tonight's Soviet communique announces that the Russians in the Gomel direction occupied the railway junction of Eovobyelitsa, which is a suburb of Gomel, on the left bank of the Soj River. It also reports that the Russians on the Middle Dnieper have continned their offensive, extended their bridgeheads and considerably improved their positions.