Evening star., 1943-10-25
Germans Pour In
More Troops
Against Reds
BY the Associated Pres.

MOSCOW, Oct. 25.-The Nazis
today threw in more troops,
planes, tanks and artillery and
fought back violently in a desper-
ate bid to stem the mighty Red
Army offensive which threatened
to pin them in a large sack in
the Dnieper River bend as the
Russians rolled on to within 6
miles of the iron and rail center
of Krivoi Rog.
The only way out of the trap is a
50-mile wide gap from Krivoi Rog
southeaStWard to the Dnieper
AS the Soviet right flank pushed
down on Krivoi Rog and other pow
erful groups moved through the
broken Zaporozhe-Me Melitopol line to-
ward the Crimea, several highly i'm
portant cities already were definitely
outfianked and it appeared dubious
that the Germans could hold them
much longer.
These included Dnepropetrovsk
and nearby Dneprodzerzhnisk, one
time centers of Soviet electric DOW
er, and Nikopol, where some of TIE
finest manganese ore deposits in
the Soviet Union are located.
Only One Way Out.
There is only one way out of
Dnepropetrovsk for the Germans
and that is down a single track
railway to Nikolaev, through the
bottleneck of Kosionovo, also in the
Dnieper elbow.
The big Red Army breakthrough
of the Zaporozhe -Melitopol line
brought another threat to the almost
encircled Germans in the Dneiper
elbow. II the Russians can push on
through the Askaniya steppe the
exit from the bend would be threat
ened from two sides.
Some of the heaviest fighting
spread over the steppe, as the Ger
man commanders. watching their
best divisions meet defeat, tried
flercely to keep from losing the
Crimea.
The German high command
acknowledged that the Russians
had established bridgeheads
across the Dnieper River on both
sides OF Dnepropetrovsk and that
attacks on the iron and COM
munications center of Krivoi Rog
had been intensified.
(T1oc roroy,,I,pip,o broo "a et
from Berlin, also said bitter bat
ties were continuing along the
central and southern fronts, but
claimed that Red Army attacks
south of Melitopol and southeast
Of ZaporoZhe had been repulsed)
Surge Toward Crimea.
South of Melitopol the Red Army
surged down the railway toward the
Crimea. This is deserted steppe
country, with few towns and only
scattered villages. The Germans
present battle-ground is place
where they must hold or retreat
back into the Crimea to certain
disaster.
Askaniya steppe is one Of the
weirdest sectors of the Soviet Union
Through some of its landscape the
Germans will see shadows of steppe
mirages presenting fantastic pic
lures OF rivers, lakes and trees
The capture of four towns after
the break-through at Melitopol gave
the Soviet forces a good start across
the Askaniya steppe in the direc-
ton of the only railway escape line
out of the Crimea for the Germans
Single-Tracked Line.
This is a single tracked line run
ming from Perekop, at the northern
tip of the Crimea, to Kherson. 5
miles from the western bank of the
Lower Dnieper.
If advance units can reach and
cut this line the only land way out
of the Crimea for thousands of Ger
man troops-some of whom have
been convalescing there, will be
blocked.
1t also should be remembered that
the defeated German Army of the
Taman Peninsula also has been
crowded into the Crimea. Great
numbers of troops already are being
flown out of the Crimea to the AS
kaniya steppe to try to hold the line