TRAP CLOSING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 November 1943, Page 4

TRAP CLOSING

ON GERMANS IN GOMEL ENEMY HELD FIRMLY. IN COUNTERSTROKE AGAINST KIEV BULGE. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.55 a.in.) LONDON, November 23. The encirclement of the Germans in the Gomel trap has been almost completed, say Moscow dispatches. Cavalry from General Rokossovsky’s White Russian Army have crossed the Odessa-Leningrad railway between Jlobin and Mosir, cutting the Germans’ last escape railway to Jlobin. Gomel, which the Germans boosted was impregnable, is now in the rear of the Russian spearheads and under attack from north and south. The cavalry sweep across the railway was made at one of the most vital points, just east of the Pripet Marshes. The main Russian force is only five miles from the railway. Observers say Marshal Von Mannstein is held in the battle of the Kiev bulge, where for ten days he has tried to force a break through. It is pointed out that the ground given up by the Russians has amounted only to ten to 20 miles in ten days, which from a strategic viewpoint is insignificant. The Germans have switched their attacks westward and are now driving from the sector "'between Chernyakhov and Korostychev. They are still throwing in men and tanks, but the Russian lines are holding. The Germans, while claiming that some ground has been gained in this sector, admit that they are meeting “stiffening resistance.” Allied correspondents report that winter is slowly creeping south across the Ukrainian plains, hardening the roads which have been soft black mud. Harder roads mean improved mobility for tanks and transport on both sides.