ADDITIONAL PANZERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 November 1943, Page 4

ADDITIONAL PANZERS

THROWN IN BY GERMANS WEST OF KIEV HEAVIEST CONCENTRATION SINCE JULY BUT COUNTER-OFFENSIVE CHECKED (British 1 Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 9.50 a.m.) RUGBY. November 29. The latest Moscow messages indicate that four more German panzer formations have been identified west of Kiev, where the Germans claim the recapture of Korosten. This shows that the Germans have concentrated against the Russians, in the salient west of Kiev, probably the biggest armoured force they have succeeded in assembling anywhere on the Eastern front since their tremendous failure against the Kursk salient, in July. The news indicates that there is still no diminution of confidence and that the main weight of the German counter-offensive has been checked.

The failure of such a venture must make it most, difficult for the Germans to assemble another large force lor checking' the further course of the Russian offensive. What hitherto has been called the Kiev bulge has in any case become so large now that it is unlikely that it can be liquidated. The north Ukrainian bridgehead has been completely merged with the south White Russian bridgehead. The Russians are well across the Dnieper for nearly 200 miles, from below Jlobin to above Pereyaslavl and for most of this distance the depth of their hold on the western side is 50 to 70 miles. Tne German line on the Upper Dnieper,, which not long ago seemed likely to be turned by an advance at Smolensk, is now actually being turned from the south, up the valley of the Beresina. The Russians now hold almost as much of the Germans’ “winter line,” along the Dnieper, as the Germans themselves. An upper stretch of 150 miles above Oraha to below Jlobin is still in German hands. Then comes a Russian stretch of nearly 200 miles, nearly to Pereyaslavl. This is followed by about 100 miles, mostly.in German hands but broken in the bend. The Germans still have about 150 miles to the Dnieper mouth. Reports of heavy Russian pressure on the Lower Dnieper suggest that even the precarious German holds on the Dnieper may soon be further reduced. VICTORIOUS SURGE RED ARMY IN WHITE RUSSIA FIGHTING IN KOROSTEN & ELSEWHERE (Received This Day, 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 29. All Moscow correspondents continue to dwell on the success of the Red Army’s surge into White Russia. Enemy sources tonight modify their earlier assertions of a complete seizure of Korosten and admit a German withdrawal south of Kremenchug. They claim that heavy Red Army attacks against the Perekop Isthmus (gateway to the Crimea) have been repulsed. The Berlin radio, describing the action at Korosten, the loss of which Berlin has never admitted, said: “The Russians penetrated the town and barricaded themselves in houses. The Germans counter-attacked immediately and after our grenadiers had annihilated the bulk of the 226th Rifle Division, the remainder of the Russian forces withdrew to three strongholds within the town, where they face destruction. The Berlin radio commentator, Captain Sertorius, said the Russians south of Kremenchug yesterday intensified their attack, and because they are continuously throwing in enormous quantities of material, the Germans had to withdraw their defence lines at some points in this sector. The Russians are- reported to be within 12 miles of Jlobin an important railway junction in White Russia, about 60 miles north-west of Gomel,