The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-03-04


 The fan of Rzhev, 130 miles west northwest of Moscow, yesterday un- hinged the whole German salient west of the Russian capital. Cap sured by the Germans in October ioAi, the Rzhev area had served as a springboard for the abortive Ger man march on Moscow that winter but held under the subsequent So- viet counter offensive.
 Headed for SmOIensk
 The direction of the new Soviet ndvance indicated that the Red Army now was striking directly at smolensk, 140 miles southwest of Rzhev, and thus outflanking Vyaz- ma, 70 miles south of Rzhev and , southwestern anchor of the Axis sa- lient before Moscow.
 Smolensk once Adolf Httler's headquarters, is the principal con- centration point for Axis troops on the central fronts and the site of some of the principal German air- droEnes.
 A Soviet drive across the smol- cnsk-Moscow railroad in this direc- tion would isolate not only Vuazma, but also Gzhatsk, 35 miles northeast of Vyazma and only 100 miles west of Moscow.
 With the capture of Rzhev, a dis patch to the government newspaper Izvestia said, the Russians onw had cleared e 300-mile stretch of the Moscow Riga railroad stretching from the Soviet capital to point vest of Velikie Luki, 80 miles east of the Latvain border.
 The Russians were reported rush. ing repairs to road beds and bridges in the hope of restoring 1t to ser- vice in the immediate future.
 To the south, other Russian armies were driving westward from recaptured Lgov. important railroad function 37 miles west of Kursk. The mid.day communique report cd the capture of Q settlement in this area ard said that 300 German officers and men were killed in Q futile counter -attack.
 Other Soviet successes were re- ported west of Rostov. Where the Russian offensive carried through several more fortified positions fronting Taganrog, and in he north west Caucasus, where the Red Army narrowed the enemy pocket on the Ten Peninsula.
 Axls counter-at were beaten off northwest of Kharkov and southwest of Voroshilovgrad, the mida6ay conmunique said.
 On the northwestern front, field dispatches said, Marshal Semyon Tinnoshenko occupied several more villages in his drive toward Straya Rlissa below Lake linen.
 GA Stockholm dispatch published in London said unoftlcial reports suggDsted that the Germans have begun the evacuation of Orel, an- chor point ct the junction of the central and southern fronts.) 1000 Germans Dead
 The fall of Rzhev. announced in a special cotninunique last night, was considered third only to the loss of Kharkov and Rostov as Q blow to the German army. A Ger ikldbAh QVS0AAABiV oSAGSd " bAAO &Suo- slans last winter quoted an order of the day from Hitler as saying that Rzhev was "the key to Ber- lin" and demanding that 1t be held at oil costs.
 Upwards of s,Oo0 German dead were counted by the Soviets on the approaches to Rzhev and within the city itself after the fierce battle that resulted in its capture, the So- vet high command said.
 The Russians were forced to fight for every street, every square, every house, front reports said. Open ap- breaches were covered by criss-cros lines of machine-gun and mortar fire from firing points hidden in att ties and cellars. The Russians first broke into the city as long ago as last Fall, but were unable tp cap- ture 1t until yesterday.
 Booty seized in Rzhev included ii2 tanks, 78 guns, 35 locomotives, 1900 railroad cars and i've dumps of war material.