CUT TO PIECES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 November 1943, Page 4

CUT TO PIECES

GERMAN COMMUNICATIONS ON EAST FRONT FROM WHITE RUSSIA TO BLACK SEA MASSIVE SOVIET ASSAULT (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.55 a.m.) LONDON, November 16. The massive Russian assault against German lines of communication is now severing railways and highways from White Russia to the shores of the Black Sea. The Russians are leaving the Germans fewer and fewer lines for the transfer of reserves to reinforce vital points, or for withdrawals of men and material. The capture of Demichi railway station is a bitter blow to the enemy, who until three days ago was using the line for getting troops and supplies into Gomel. The Red Army forces are now pouring into the gap smashed in the White Russia line by the break through across Gomel’s only railway to the westward. A dispatch from the front tonight said the advance was pushing on rapidly. General Vatutin’s troops driving north from the Kiev bulge are novz joining with the forces which outflanked Gomel from the west, threatening to turn the entire White Russian line. This co-ordinated drive threatens to throw the Germans back to the Pripet Marshes. The Gomel garrison is reported to be in a desperate position. Available German reserves in this region have been weakened and losses of planes and transport vehicles are also heavy. General Vatutin's men farther south are closing in along a 60-mile front against Korosten, on the north-south railway. According to the latest reports, tne Russians have reached points less than 15 miles from Korosten. 'Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says another column is driving against the railway 25 miles north of Korosten and Ryechitsa, which is the only adequate road across the eastern end of the Pripet Marshes, and is also menacing the Korosten-Cherni-gov Railway. Both linos are under fire and have already been crossed by cavalry patrols. WEAKENING GERMAN LOSSES

The Red Army appears to be steadily gaining the upper’ hand against Ger - man counter-attacks on the southern flank of the Kiev bulge. The Russians are strengthened by reinforcements brought across the_Dnieper, but German losses are beginning io tell.. The Russians in the Kerch Peninsula are strengthening their hold on the marshy, forest-dotted terrain. The Red Navy’s little ships are transporting supplies across the storm-swept straits. The German news agency’s military commentator, Captain Se'i’tdrious, admits a withdrawal from the Dnieper bend. “German detachments northwest of Zaporozhe,’’ he says, “withdrew at dusk yesterday to a shorter line, after being attacked by Russian infantry divisions and a tank brigade, which 'achieved a break through on a narrow sector.” Sertorius said tonight that very violent fighting continues in the great battle of the Dnieper bend and also in the Korosten-Jitomir-Fastov triangle,' where battles are fluctuating. He added that fresh Russian tank forces had been thrown in at focal points in the non-stop offensive. According to the Paris radio, fresh Russian attacks south-west of Dnepropetrovsk and north of Krivoi Rog resulted in a number of breaks through. The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Zurich correspondent quotes Swiss reports from Berlin as saying that today’s Press conference was the gloomiest yet held. A German spokesman explained that “the greatest of all Russian offensives” had started in the Krivoi Rog sector. He bitterly complained that the Russians, despite the miserable weather, continue large-scale attacks, although it seemed incredible to employ tanks in such swampy country. The spokesman used the phrase: “The Russians’ aim is to force a decisive victory in 1943,” but declined to express an opinion as to whether this was possible. VAIN COUNTER-ATTACKS The Moscow radio says that reports from the area south and south-west of Ryechitsa (west of Gomel) state that Soviet troops are constantly enlarging their bridgehead on the right bank of the Dnieper. The Germans are offering a stubborn resistance and by desperate counter-attacks are attempting to stem the Soviet offensive. On one sector, during a single day, the Germans launched more than twenty coun-ter-attacks, which were repelled with huge enemy losses. ..Prisoners from one tank division stated that ten to fifteen men were left in each of the companies of their division and that the entire division had only 30 tanks left. A. prisoner from an infantry regiment stated that his battalion was transferred from Holland a month ago. His company no longer existed, although it had been reinforced twice in the past month. A German automatic rifleman taken prisoner said his commander stressed that the fate of Germany would be decided in White' Russia and urged his men hot to yield. FURTHER GAINS ON MAIN FIGHTING FRONTS SOVIET OFFICIAL REPORT (Received This Day, 1.20 .p.m.) LONDON, November 16. Tonight’s Russian communique says: “The Russians in the Korosten direction have captured the railway stations of fChepovichi and Turchinka, on the Korosten-Jitomir railway and occupied over 60 other places.

“The Russians in the Fastov area repelled counter-attacks launched by major enemy forces of infantry and tanks. In the Ryechitsa area the Russians have captured several strongpoints. The enemy again suffered enormous losses in men and materials. “The Russians north of Gomel captured a number of strongly fortified positions and have improved their ovzn positions on the right bank of the Soj River.”