DEVELOPING RAPIDLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1943, Page 3

DEVELOPING RAPIDLY

NEW RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE NORTH OF GOMEL PENETRATION OF GERMAN WINTER LINE. ELABORATE DEFENCES TAKEN. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, November 26. The Red Army’s big new offensive on the White Russian front is developing very rapidly says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The Russians have reached the east side of the Dnieper at a point midway between Mogilev and Jlobin and are now swiftly advancing towards Dovsk, where the road from Gomel to Mogilev crosses the road from Propoisk to Rogachev. The penetration of the Germans’ carefully prepared winter line in this area makes the Russians masters of a big sector between the Soj and the Dnieper. Describing the Propoisk break through, the Moscow radio says the Germans, for winter operations, constructed a series of pillboxes resembling a small underground town. Tire enemy had a dense network of firing points, minefields and anti-tank and anti-infantry obstacles. The Russians surprised the defenders, after crossing the Soj River by rafts and barges. Soviet troops captured reinforcements who continued to arrive after the Germans had lost the stronghold.