Evening star., 1943-01-07
Reds Only IS Miles From Rostov;
Tunisian Heights West Of Mateur
Are Recaptured by Nazi Forces
Russians Penetrate
Foes Line AIono
20-MiIe Front
BY HENRY C. CASSIDY,


MOSCOW, Jan. THE Red
Army of the lower Don has bro
ken through German lines on a
20-mile front on both sides of
the river and has driven to with
In IS miles of Rostov, key to the
whole Nazi salient into the Cau-
casus, the Russians announced
today.
Dispatches from the front said the
Russian forces, commanded by 1t
Gen. Constantin Rokossovsky, vet
eran Of last winters battle of Mos
COW, had pushed forward so miles
since capturing the Don River
bridgehead of Tsimlyansk two days
ago.
The advanced point which the
Russian thrust was said to have
reached yesterday was Bolshaya
Orlovka on the Sal River just
southeast of its confluence with the
Don midway between Tsimlyansk
and Rostov.
Recaptured in the sweep down the
Don were the towns of Marinsk, on
the Don IS miles downstream from
Tsimlyansk; and the villages Of
Kargalsko- Belansky, Kamishevska-
va. Yasirev and Kholodny, scattered
along both banks of the river.
Rolls Into Flat Region.
There the Russian offensive was
rolling into the fiat, low-lying re-
gion which stretches past Rostov to
the Don mouth on the Sea of Azov
"a sector which previously proved
to be one of the most difficult of
the entire front to defend
Rostov, whose fall would cut off
the whole German Army in the
Caucasus, already has changed
hands three times. 1t was taken by
the Germans late in 1941, won back
quickly by the Russians and then
captured again by the Germans last
summer
Deep in the Caucasus the Ger
mans still were in retreat from the
Mozdok Nalchik ProkhladnenSki
triangle, but battlefront dispatches
said there was no indication that
they we're attempting general
withdrawal to escape being cut off
Russian forces were said to be
meeting resistance after a swift
sweep Is miles northwest OF Prokh-
ladnenski to the railway station OF
Apolonskaya, almost half way to
Mineralnye Vody.
(The Russians reported the
capture of Prokhladnenski, 80
miles northeast of Nalchik, on
tuesday,
More Settlements Taken.
The Russian advance in this sector,
however, was reported continuing,
and the midday communique issued
by the Soviet Information Bureau
said two more settlements were re-
captured southwest of Stalingrao,
and several others retaken in the
middle Don sector.
This communique followed earlier
war bulletins bringing the total of
Axis dead and captured since the
start of the Russian winter offensive
to 339 $50 up to January S.
These communiqueS had reported
13 more towns and two railroad sta
tions in the Caucasus recaptured
along with eight more towns in the
middle Don.
The Russian drive down the Lower
Don wedged in between German
defenses in the Midle Don sector
and those in the northern part of
the Kalmyck Steppe, and increased
the menace to the Nazis in both.
Increasing Pressure.
Meanwhile, the Russians report
ed that more than $50 miles back to
the northeast from the new Don
front line, the remnants of % Ger
man divisions trapped at Stalin-
grad were fighting desperately un-
der increasing pressure.
This force was said to be main
tanning a trong defense behind its
Notifications, but the Russians said
that trench-by trench the Germans
were being squeezed back in a
tightening trap.
Mineralyne Vody, toward which
the Russians were driving in the
Caucasus, is the center of a spur
lime branching from the main Ros-
tov-Baku trunk railway.
The hard-driving Russians also
raced northwest from Nalchik in q
line parallel to the advance through
Prokhladnenski, advancing Is miles
to cluster of towns including Bak-
san, Staraya, Krepost and Kizburr
and tanning out to the west.
The capture of more than a dozen
Caucasus towns yesterday, as listed
in the communique, was said here
to indicate that the German front
in the Caucasus was collapsing more
quickly than in any previous battles