Imperial Valley press., 1943-01-17
Don cts
Line
Broken
by HENRY SHAPIRO

MOSCOW. Jan. 16-fUPl--Col.-
Gen. N. r. Vatutin. Russian Com
mander in Chief of the southwest
ern front, has broken through the
German defenses on the DonetS
River front in a bloody battle to
reach q point less than 90 miles
north of Rostov. special dispatches
said today "A
Striking suddenly and with tex
rifle impact, Vatutin cracked the
German defense line on the Lik
haya River, which emptieS into
the DonetS drove desperately re-
sisting Germans before him or
crushed him under his tanks Az
the weight of his infantry, and adj
vanced 80 miles to take the Blub-
ovkaya railroad station on the Ros-
| tov- Moscow line and the towns of
Borodinov and Potseluyev 10 miles
from the Likhaya railroad juct-
ton.
SEVEN TOWNS TAKEN
Glubovkaya is 95 miles north of
Rostov and only IA miles north of
the important city of KamenSk.
Borodinov and Uotseluyev, north
east of Likhaya, and five other
towns were taken along with Club
oykaya yesterday.
Now the Russians were within
striking distance of Likhaya, the
junction of the ROStov- Moscow
railroad the line extending east
ward to Stalingrad, and the line
running westward to a rich indus
trial and mining area
The Germans had heavily fO"ti-
fled their Kalitva River line 20
miles east of the ROstov- MoscqAt
railroad. An irreStible wedge ~
Russian tanks, under a barrage by
massed guns and followed by I
infantry and cavalry, smashed the
German line at Litvinovka % miles
southeast of Glubovkaya, div
patches to the army newspaper
Red Star said.
FIERCE BOMBARDMENT
Russia had kept silent for days
while the Germans fought to hold
their river line. The Russian guns
turned relentless, never-eaS'n?
bombardment on them, flattcning
their emplacemcnts and aAi-tank
obstacles, and enabling the tanks
and infantry to storm the river,
spread out nowthwestWard and
southWeStWard and clear az area Of
200 square miles.
Flanking attacks forced The Ger
mans from stronghold aftel trc 90
hold. and then came geror3l re-
treat to the railroad s(d the
northern Donets River.
The gigantic operation, perfect
y timed, enabled Col. Gen Kon-
stantin Rokossoviski, commanding
the Don front. to effect wheeling
movement SouthWard, aiming at
the development of the GermaN
forces at the western end Of the
lower Don area.
LEADER PROMOTED
Rokossovisky's success in eXecutN
ing this difficult movement wa&
atteSted by the fact that he is
now a Colonel General. Premier
Josef Stain, supreme commander,
announced his promotion to that
rank, from Lieutenant General, to-
day.
BY co-ordinating their drives,
Vatutin and Rokossoviski flanked
the main German defenses and
| forced a retreat.
~ Dispatches indicated that despite
| Increasingly desperate resistance
the German attempt to check the
Red army drive in the lower Don
area was nearing its end.
Advancing below the Don, COL
Gen. Andrei I. YeremenkO drove
down the Stalingrad-T -Tikhoretsk
railroad to capture Dovinaya, 40
miles from the Salsk junction, and
Is other towns, villages and dis
trict centers yesterday.
19-MILE ADVANCE
Lieut. Gen. Ivan Maslennikov's
party, with Maj. Gen Ivan Krich n
enko's crack Cossack cavalrymen,
advanced 10 miles in the north
Caucasus to capture the railroad
terminal of Blagodarnoe, whence a
rail line runs westward to join the =
Rostov-Baku railroad at Kropo-S.
tkin, 1876 miles south of Rostov,
alcng the Alexandrovsksya, 80 miles
up the Rostov-Baku line from
Mineralnye Vody, and six other
! towns.
Vatutin's Donets army present.
ed a new and grave threat to Ros-
tov, on which Russian armies al
ready were advancing from east
and south, and to Likhaya juno
ton, % miles to the south, where
the Rostov-Moscow railroad meets
those extending from Stalingrad to
the east and to the Stalno- -Ordz-
hCnikidze- -Kameevka industrial area
10 the west
Yeremenko's army was adyanc-
ing steadily on the German de-
fenSe line based on the Manych
River, 20 miles northeast of Salsk.
and there was every indication that
he would crash it, take Salsk and
keep on down the railroad to the
Eostov-Baku junction at Tikhor-
ctsk.