Imperial Valley press., 1943-11-19

prOaches TO Rumania. old Poland
and the Baltic states.
REPORTS FIGHTING
"a German communique reported
fierce fighting in the area of Koros.
ten, the capture of which Stain an.
nounced yesterday, and claimed
that the Germans recaptured 6
number of villages in the "Kiev bat
tie area the broad arc through
the northwest UkraineD
Front reports on the capture OF
Rechitsa made it plain that the
German position at Gomel was of
catastrophe import. The Russians
were hammering the city from three
sides and on the verge of springing
the trap which would break the
last tenuous German-held line to
the northwest.
Tattered remnants of the Ger
man garrison which escaped from
RechitSa managed to recross the
Dnieper and flee into another trap
set by the Russians around Gomel.
In the last stages of the bitter
battle for RechitSa the Naci COM
manders tried to keep open the
northern exits. But when they tried
TO get their men out of the city
to the north, they found the Rus
slams had reached the river bank
BEGAN FLIGHT
The Germans then began a pam
icky flight across the river in
barges, beats, and dinghies under
a rain of BOMBS from Soviet planes.
Only a small proportion of the
boats succeeded in running the
gantlet, they started eastward-a
wrongway retreat-without realiZ-
ing that Gomel likewise was totter-
ing under the Soviet assault.
The capture of Korosten, a five
way railway junction ga miles
northwest OF Kiev. knocked out the
principal German stronghold on
the approaches to prewar Poland.
The Soviets should be across the
border in less than a week if they
maintain their present rate of prog
reSS.
Russian forces were in the north
ern suburbs Of Gomel, southern an
chor of the German defenses in
White Russia, and were preparing
to force the Dnieper-if they have
not already done so-to smash into
the city from the west following the
capture Of Rechitsa. Other columns
were threatening Gomel from across
the looping Sozh river to the south
and east.
Rechitsa, 25 miles west of Gomel,
fell yesterday TO Gen. Konstantin
K. Rokossovsky, who a year ago
today launched the Stalingrad Of
fensive that turned the course OF
the war on the eastern front.
SMASH RESISTANCE
The Soviets smashed enemy resis-
tance in three days of fierce street
fighting and drove the remnants
of the garrison into the Dnieper,
where hundreds drowned attempt
ing to escape to the east bank.
West of Reehitsa, the Russian
thanking columns engulfed more
than 80 towns and villages in a
lightning advance that carried to
Vasilievichi "a miles from Reich
lisa on the Gomel-Pinsk railroad.
Vasilievichi controls a spur railroad
that extends through the eastern
Pripet marshes TO Khoiniki on one
of the few highways entering the
marshes.
Korosten was captured only II
days after the fan of Kiev-an aver
-age daily advance of more than 8ls
miles. The Germans put up stub
born resistance on the approaches
to Kiev. but were thrown out of the
city in tWo-day battle in which
they suffered heav-. losses in men
and material KoroSten is a juno
ton on the Kiey-Warsaw and Len
ingrad-OdeSsa railways and the
terminus Of a spur line to Rumania.
A number OF other localities fell
TO the Russians in adjacent sectors,
where nearly 1000 Germans were
killed.