ROUTED GERMANS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1943, Page 4

ROUTED GERMANS

RETREATING IN DNIEPER BEND INCESSANT LAND & AIR ATTACKS THREAT TO ALL ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS ESCAPE GAPS NARROWING (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, Noon.) LONDON, October 26. Russian land and air forces are joining in an incessant hammering of the broken German formations struggling back from the rout of Dnepropetrovsk. Blasted tanks and smashed lorries are strewn along the retreat road, as evidence of the magnitude of the defeat, the full toll of which has not yet been paid, say dispatches from the front line. “Russian bombers are systematically pounding the retreating enemy,” says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. “The Dnieper battlefield has become a slaughterhouse for the Germans. A series of Russian thrusts from north, cast and west threaten all the enemy' communications, which are heavily choked with transport. The Russians have reached points eleven miles west of Melitopol and west of the railway to the Crimea.” z “The Germans are being driven, without respite, from the Dnepropetrovsk sector back on the Dnieper bend positions, on which the Russian trap is already closing, says a “Red Star" war reporter. They are being given no chance to regroup. “The Germans have already been swept off one-third of the battlefield in the bend. It is touch and go for them.” Pointing out the far-reaching possibilities of the Battle of the Bend, Reuter says the Germans are racing against time to extricate their armies from the tangle before the Red Army strikes ahead of them, sealing off the last escape railways. The right flank Russian column has now swung round south-west against the railway from Krivoi Rog and its spearheads are only five miles away from the line. If this line is cut, even continued possession of Krivoi Rog, which the Germans are strenuously defending, would pot serve to hold open the narrowing bottle neck through which the Germans might retreat to safety. THREE GREAT THRUSTS INTO BROKEN ENEMY DEFENCES DARK OUTLOOK EMPHASISED BY NAZIS (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, October 26. The Russians are driving deeper in three main directions—firstly, down into the defences of Krivoi Rog; secondly, south and south-west cf Dnepropetrovsk, and thirdly west of Melitopol, across the open country above the Crimea. The thrusts from Melitopol are rapidly enlarging gaps and striking across the Nogaisk Steppe. ' Moscow dispatches say the Germans’ position on the Nogaisk Steppe is equally perilous whether they attempt to retreat down the railway to the Crimea or move back farther across open country, with few opportunities for a stand. Each Russian blow takes a heavy toll of the dwindling German tank units. The British United Press Moscow correspondent says more resounding victories are expected. The Germans have already as good as lost the Dnieper valley. Their defensive system is completely disorganised and there appears to be no chance of their forming a new defence line before they are thrown out of the valley. The Moscow radio's military commentator declared that the Germans in the Dnieper bend are in greater danger than ever. The Germans’ winter defences have been pierced and much of what Hitler’s quartermasters have stored up has fallen into the Red Army's hands. Axis sources also are stressing the seriousness of the German position in Southern Russia. The Paris radio’s commentator, Jean Paquis, said: “The serious predicament of the German armies can no longer remain unobserved. Nobody in Europe can dare to minimise the Soviet successes southeast of Kremenchug and in the Dnieper bend. Nobody can deny the military importance of these successes; yet the Russian resources seem inexhaustible.” The Berlin radio's commentator. Captain Sertorius, said Russian pressure in the Nogaisk Steppe was at least as strong as at Krivoi Rog. "One thing is certain,” he added. “We must count on a further increased fury. The Russian thrust south of Zaporozhe, towards Nikopol, has not lost anything in intensity.” The Nazi journal “Hackenkreuz Banner,” says: "The Dnieper battle is unparalleled in history. The terrific onslaught can only be described as mechanised fury. The enormous annihilation machine which the Russians are operating is limited only by the supply of manpower. Stalin, in .the driver’s seat, urges on his men to the limit of their powers.” The Moscow radio declared that the Germans killed off thousands of Russians in Dnepropetrovsk. The Red Army found the bodies of women and children dangling from trees. The Germans also herded many Russians into buildings which were blown up. Tonight’s Soviet communique says advances up to three miles were made in an offensive north-west and southwest of Melitopol and up to nine miles south-west of Dnepropetrovsk. The enemy suffered enormous losses of men and equipment. Soviet troops, in their westward pursuit. of the retreating Germans are now 20 miles beyond Dnepropetrovsk and others have made almost as much progress south-west, of that city. In the south the Russians have reached an area 20 miles north-west of Melitopol and have thus covered one-third of the distance between Melitopol and Nikopol. Mr Paul Winterton, London “News Chronicle” correspondent, says that only those who have actually seen the enemy retreat from the Dnieper bend can realise the magnitude of the German defeat. The Russians are within three or four miles of Krivoi Rog.