BIG EFFORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 December 1943, Page 4

BIG EFFORT

BEING MADE BV GERMANS TO SAVE MENACED LINE IN WHITE RUSSIA. RUSSIAN OUTFLANKING MOVEMENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, December 1. General Von Kluge, the German commander on the White Russian front, has thrown his troops back across the Dnieper in a big effort to save Jlobin, the southern buttress of the White Russia line, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. He adds that the Russians are approaching Jlobin and also Bobruisk in a big outflanking movement, . which in addition holds out the prospect of opening a gap in the rear of the German White Russia line as far as Vitebsk. A Russian salient has been driven beyond the Neva at the northern extremity of the White Russia front and already overhangs the Germans’ northern flank at the Vitebsk fortress. With its upper and lower buttresses menaced, the German line faces a frontal punch from the Russian forces approaching Mogilev from Propoisk. The Germans today launched 15 coun-ter-attacks before Jlobin in an effort to strengthen their protective bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnieper. Fighting is at present going on on the approaches to various roads centring on the important Dovsk Road junction, the loss of which would make it impossible for the Germans to manoeuvre troops, since the main roads are knee deep In mud. The Russians have now reached a point ten miles from Mosir, the key to road communications east of the Pripet area. ENORMOUS STRAIN IMPOSED ON BOTH ARMIES. IN THE DNIEPER BATTLES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.50 a.m.) RUGBY, December 1. A break in the weather- south-west of Dnepropetrovsk has led to a resumption of hostilities on a large scale by both land and air, states a Moscow correspondent. The resumption of operations, following on the wettest autumn for many years, is putting an enormous strain on the human and material endurance of both sides. The renewed activity heralds the beginning of a new phase in the struggle, the outcome of which the Russians await with hope and the Germans with desperation. Thousands of Russians and Germans are undergoing a physical trial comparable only to that of the autumn battles for Leningrad two years ago, when Von Leeb drove his troops to mass hysteria. In one sector the Germans counter-attacked sixteen times in an effort to regain a commanding height. The battle lasted for 72 hours, but the Russians held, the positions. On the rest of the Dnieper front, including the extreme south of the Ukraine, rain and fog are- impeding activity.