MORE GAINS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 November 1943, Page 3

MORE GAINS

MADE BY RED ARMY IN UKRAINE Ovrutch Captured and Dnieper Crossed at New Point BUT RAILWAY TOWN OF JITOMIR LOST GOMEL NOW ALMOST COMPLETELY SURROUNDED LONDON, November 19. Marshal Stalin tonight announced, another big success gained by the Red Army in the Western Ukraine —the capture of Ovrutch, which stands on the main Leningrad-Odessa railway, 25 miles north of Korosten. Sdriet forces have also made another crossing of the Dnieper at Cherkasy, between Kiev and Kremenchug, but they havi evacuated Jitomir, the town on the main railway, some 50 miles south of Korosten, which they occupied captured a week A.t the southern end of the White Russian front, the Red Army has almost completely surrounded the great German stronghold of Gomel. . From its position on the railway linking the Ukraine with White Russia, Ovrutch is of great importance. With Ovrutch in Russian hands, the German armies on the central and southern sectors of the Eastern front have lost their last link. A Soviet communique states that south of Korosten, where the Germans have been counter-attacking the southern flank of the Kiev bulge, Russian troops have been withdrawn from Jitomir. To the east, however, the Russians have made a new crossing of the Dnieper at Cherkasy, about 30 miles north-west of Kremenchug. This means, in effect, that the great salient driven by the Russians into the plains west of Kiev has moved north. The Soviet communique says Jitomir had to be abandoned on account of the exposed positions held by the Russians and difficulties of supply. The northern flank of the salient has never been exposed to the same extent, as the enemy here holds only a narrow corridor in front of the Pripet Marshes. The capture of Ovrutch makes the position of the German forces on this flank more than ever precarious. North of the Pripet Marshes the Russians are exploiting their victory at Rechitza and in their drives on Gomel have now almost completely encircled that enemy stronghold.