ADDED IMPETUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 December 1943, Page 3

ADDED IMPETUS

GIVEN TO SOVIET ASSAULTS IN WHITE RUSSIA & IN SOUTH GERMANS HARD PRESSED IN BOTH AREAS LONDON, December 3. Soviet I‘orccs closing in on enemy communication centres have made big gains in the last 24 hours. A Moscow communique states'that they have thrown the Germans from more than 100 places in White Russia, ' north-west of Gomel. Dealing with events on the southern front, Mr Paul Winterton, Moscow representative of the London “NewsChronicle,” says the Germans are moving up reserves from other sectors of the Dnieper bend and are putting up a stubborn fight for Snamenka. It is evident from the large number of tanks and guns the Russians have taken that they are on top in this sector and are determined to take Snamenka. The Germans are trying desperately to keep the railway junction of Smela, through which large forces of German reinforcements have been passing. In their drive towards Jlobin and Rogachev, in White Russia, the Russians are taking advantage of better weather to bring forward their artillery, which is shelling the road junction of Dovsk, their immediate objective.

Last night’s Soviet communique stated: “The Red Army between the Sozh and the Dnieper north-west of Gomel continued to advance and occupied more than 80 inhabited places and in the Pripet River area occupied nine places. The Russians in the Cherkassy area repelled tank and infantry attacks and inflicted heavy losses. “The Reod Army south-west of Kremenchug, overcoming strong counterattacks, forged ahead and occupied a number of strongly-fortified points of resistance, including Dmitrovke, six miles north-east of Znamenka.