Evening star., 1943-10-29
Red Armies |mperi|
Last German Escape
Route From Crimea
Soviets Score Gains
Of II to l8 Miles a Day
Toward Perekop
By the Associated Press

LONDON, Oct. 30. Spear
headed by fast-moving tank
units and mobile armored COL
umns, Red Army troops were
plunging through the wide
steppeS of the Western Ukraine
today, less than 60 miles from
Perekop, last door of escape open
to the Nazi Crimean garriSonS.
The Russians. advancing at a rate
Of from II to l8 miles day, would
reach the gates Of Perekop within a
week If that pace Is maintained
Capture of the village of NiZhne-
Saragozhy, highway junction in the
heart OF the Steppe country As miles
west of Melitopol and only A miles
from the Dnieper River town of
KakhoVka, cleared the way for the
westward advance More than 5000
Germans were killed in the battle
for Nlzhne-S -Saragozhy. The Rus
slams found go freight cars left be-
hind when the enemy fed the town.
At Krivoi Roe, big mining and
industrial center northwest of Melit-
opol. a strengthened German gar
rison was stubbornly resisting
maSsed Russian assaults from three
sides, but capture of the city ap-
peared inevitable as the Russian
pressure increased.
Battle in Full Progress.
The battle for the city is still in
full progress" the German high
command communique said. The
NaziS asserted they had destroyed
lis Russian tanks.
Other Red Army forces pushed 35
miles to the northwest Of the be-
Sieged city to capture Marianovka,
cutting the znamenka Nikolaev
railway leading to the Bug River.
next German defense line to the
west, a Moscow communique re-
ported
In cleanup operations southwest
OF DnepropetrOvSk. Soviet troops
swept into several towns and cap
tured additional stores of German
military equipment. On their way
to Join the forces storming Krivoi
Rog, they killed 1900 Nazis and cap
tured an entire company of the 46th
German Infantry Division, the war
bulletin said.
Balki, village 81 miles from
Nlkopol, German-held Strongpoint
In the northern steppe country, was
taken by Soviet columns rounding
up German remnants inside the
bend of the Dnieper River.
Pressure Increased.
Increasing the pressure on the
Crimea. units of Gen Feodor Tol-
bukhin's southern desert army"
were swinging down from Melitopol
to stab at Perekop. northeastern
gate Of the peninsula less than 50
miles away.
! Moscow said they were so close
on the heels of the fleeing enemy
that Is guns "in full working order"
were picked up at the town of
AAmovka, together with other valu-
able war gear abandoned by the
Nazis.
Red Army planes, now complete
masters of the skies over Southern
Russia. destroyed more than 300
army trucks which the Germans
We're using III their fight to the
Bug River across the Nogaisk
steppcs, the Russian communicate
sald. The tremendous amount of
booty taken by the Red Army troops
suggested a breakdown in German
transport.
This belief was strengthened by a
Madrid dispatch which quoted a
neutral informant who has Just re-
turned from the Russian front as
saying that because of fuel shortages
German planes no longer are al
lowed to taxi to starting points, but
must be pushed: tanks are trans
ported by rail. and even motorized
reserves are moved by rail except
in great emergencies.
The Red Army command has be-
gun fresh offensive in Upper White
Russia, 600 miles to the north. Gains
of from to miles were recorded
there, the Moscow war bulletin said.
More than 80 towns were liberated
fro mthe Germans. including Surazh,
25 miles northwest of Vitebsk.
The Moscow radio today quoted a
Pravda dispatch as saying that
German defenses have cracked all
along the front between Melitopol
and the Sea of Azov." The Soviet
monitor recorded the broadcast,