DARK OUTLOOK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 November 1943, Page 3

DARK OUTLOOK

FOR GERMAN SOUTHERN . ARMIES ESCAPE GAPS NARROWING. MENACE TO VITAL JUNCTION & RIVER CROSSINGS. <By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, Otober 31. In southern Russia, the German armies in the Crimea ate in imminent danger of having their overland retreat cut off. As a result of yesterday’s Russian drive all territory east of the MelitopolCrimea railway is in Russian hands. Soviet troops have occupied the greater part of the railway. I This leaves the Germans only one land route out of the Crimea. The enemy hold on the Perekop Isthmus has been greatly weakened by this latest Russian drive. Further north, the Germans who are retreating across the Nogaisk steppe are facing an equally bleak future as the Russians continue to sweep across the steppe. They have also broadened and’ deepened theii’ bridgehead on the river crossing between Kherson and Nikopol. Still further north, in the Non bend, the Germans are being steadily pushed back toward Apostolovo and the Russians are rapidly narrowing the Gesmans’ escape gap.