GROWING ALARM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 October 1943, Page 4

GROWING ALARM

FELT AND EXPRESSED IN BERLIN OVER POSITION IN DNIEPER BEND TALK OF COMING RETREAT (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.10 p.ni„) LONDON, October 21. As the great Soviet drive into the Dnieper bend forges steadily ahead, messages from Germany reflect the growing apprehension and alarm felt in Berlin. The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper "Aftonbladet,' after quoting German officials as stating that the Russian drive from Kremenchug is aimed at the Black Sea port of Nikolayev, added: “Catastrophe threatens the whole German front in South Russia. The Russians are continually throwing infantry, tanks and artillery into the breaches in the German line between Kremenchug and Dnepropetrovsk and widening the gaps, while ever greater swarms of Soviet bombers are hammering the retreating Germans. Berlin claims that never before have the Russians thrown in such enormous forces as at Kremenchug.” The Berlin correspondent of the Ger-man-controlled Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau says: “The situation in the Kremenchug-Dnepropetrovsk sector must without exaggeration be described as extremely serious. The Russian threat from the north is becoming greater and greater. It seems that the German forces will very soon be compelled to retreat westward in order to avoid encirclement.” MOST OF MELITOPOL NOW IN RUSSIAN HANDS. NUMBER OF KEYPOINTS TAKEN. (Received This Day, 1.0 p.m.) LONDON. October 21. Tonight's Soviet communique says that after fierce fighting, the Russians dislodged the enemy from a number of keypoints in his defences north and south-west of Melitopol. The Russians have completely cleared the enemy from the centre of Melitopol and the Germans are now holding only the northern part of the city. In these battles the Germans suffered enormous losses in men and equipment. The Russians south-east of Kremenchug have advanced in some sectors three to six miles and have captured over 70 inhabited places, including Petrovo, Anovka and Alexandrovka. Petrovo is 23 miles north-north-west of Krivoi Rog and about 20 miles from the railway from Snamenka to Nikolayev and Kherson, the only railway leading from these two ports. TRAP CLOSING ON HUGE ENEMY FORCE IN DNIEPER BEND. GERMAN DEFENCES BREACHED AT MELITOPOL. (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 21. Moscow correspondents report that the Red Army has advanced half-way across the rear of the Dnieper bend, and that large German forces, estimated at between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men, in the Dnieper bend and the Crimea, are in danger of being trapped. In the four days since the break through south of Kremenchug, the Russians have advanced 60 miles They still have another 60 miles to go to complete the encirclement of the Germans ,by reaching the southern arm of the Dnieper bend. Reuter's Moscow correspondent says the Russians’ latest advances have brought them within 27 miles of Krivoi Rog. Russian bombers have begun softening the German communication lines radiating from Krivoi Rog. The Russians south-east of Kremenchug are now only 24 miles west of Dneprodzerhinsk, which adjoins Dnepropetrovsk.

Observers in London believe that the German army will be dealt a decisive blow in the Dnieper bend, where, according to Morley Richards, the “Daily Express" military writer, the Germans are in more deadly peril than at Stalingrad. Dispatches from Berlin tonight report that the Red Army has breached the German defences of Melitopol, in powerful r.ew attacks, says Reuter’s Stockheim correspondent. He quotes the Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau’s Berlin representative as saying., that the situation at Melitopol is becoming increasingly critical. Russian thrusts time and again have broken into the German defence system. NEW CLIMAX EXPECTED SOON BY GERMANS. SOUTH-EAST OF KREMENCHUG. 'By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, Octobe r2l. The German News Agency tonight declared that a battle, with the centre of gravity south-east of Kremenchug, is still in full swing, and must be expected to soon reach a new climax.