SOVIET THREAT TO GERMAN SOUTHERN ARMIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 December 1943, Page 3

SOVIET THREAT TO GERMAN SOUTHERN ARMIES

Capture of Kazatin Cuts Vital Enemy Supply Line

RUSSIANS DRIVING INTO BOTH FLANKS OF NAZI FRONT

OUTER DEFENCES OF NIKOPOL PIERCED

LONDON, December 30. Moscow’s guns fired another salvo tonight when Marshal Stalin announced a fresh success on the Kiev front, the capture of Kazatin, an important junction on one of the two railways which have been serving the Germans in South Russia as supply routes. The Red Army is also threatening closely the junctions of Berdichev and Jitomir. The German armies in South Russia are stated to be now facing a situation of extreme danger, with the Russians striking into their flanks at either end of the long front. With their vital communications menaced, the Germans are counter-attacking at present only in the Kirovograd area. Their defences in the vicinity of Zoporozhe have been smashed. In five days’ fighting, in the Ukraine, the Russians have advanced from 30 to 60 miles on a front over 180 miles wide. South-east from the Dnieper Bend, Red Army troops have put the Germans in another critical position. They have pierced the outer defences of Nikopol.