Evening star., 1943-10-26
Desperate But Futile
Reorguord Battles
Fought in Russio
BY HENRY c. CASSIDY,
Associated Press War Correspondent.

MOSCOW, Oct. 26.-Four hard.
hitting Soviet armies today were
pursuing the Germans retreat
ing across Southern Russia from
the shattered Dnieper River de-
fenSe wall toward the Bug River
ITS miles to the West.
Front dispatches indicated thu
Nazi forces were Waging desperat,
but futile rearguard battles along {
0O-mile-long front from Kremen.
chug south to the Sea of Azov, in.
tent only on saving as much as pos.
sible from what may prove to b,
the greatest German disaster since
Stalingrad
The German retreat, accelerated
by the RUSSIANS capture of the in.
duStrial cities of Dnepropetrovsl
and Dneprodzerzhinsk in the grea
Dnieper bend yesterday, was bluntly
characterized by a Russian com.
munlque as "diSordered"
Thousands Reported Slain.
1t yielded enormous quantities
OF war material abandoned by the
Nazis. Thousands of Germans were
reported killed in fierce fighting OF
the fiat Ukranian steppes above tht
Crimea.
"a German military spokes-
man was quoted today in Swedish
press dispatches from Berlin as
saying the battle in the Dnieper
River bend was deciding the
fate" of the war on the eastern
front.
(''No one can say how the bat
tie will develop or its duration"
the spokesman was quoted as
saying.
The commentator viewed the
entire sector between Kremen-
chug and Melitopol as one unified
battle zone and declared that
German Withdrawals continued
orderly and that the Nazis still
had reserves to. curb the Red
Army's drive. the dispatch said.
London dispatches, based on
Moscow advices and admissions
of danger emanating from Ber-
lin broadcastS, estimated there
we're perhaps 100000 Germans
involved in the mass retreat
across the Ukraine.
indicative of Russian often
sive strength in the far north, the
Polish Telegraph Agency in Lon
don quoted underground sources
as saying the Germans already
have mined LWoW, in Southeast
ern Poland, ready to blow it to
ruins in the event of Russian
break-through on the White Rus
sian frontD
Batter at Gates of Krivoi Rog.
1t was Gen. Rodion Y. Malinov-
Sky's Sd Ukranian army which
stormed Dnepropetrovsk to take that
great economic and military center
He was supported on his right flank
by Gen. Ivan S. Konov's I'd Ukraniar
army group, while the 4th Ukraniar
army which captured Melitopol Sat-
urday backed him up on the left
flank The 1st Ukranian army oper.
ating farther to the north was be-
lieved plunging westward below
Kremenchug toward Znamenka.
Russian columns were batterine
at the gates of Krivoi Rog, IS miles
southwest of Dnepropetrovsk. where
front line dispatches said the 23c
German Tank Division had beer
trapped, and spearheads of the 4tf
army were racing through Melitopo
toward the Crimea, shattering ar
enemy defense line based on the
Melitopol-Crimea railway en- route
The Red Air Force, master of the
Ukranian skies, was blasting the dis
organized Nazis over the entire front
Moscow Celebrates Victory.
Premier Stain saluted the freeing
of the Dnieper bend by ordering q
salvos from 224 Moscow cannon
the second big night celebration wit.
messed by Secretary of State HUI
and British Foreign Secretary An.
thony Eden, attending the tri-powel
conference in the Soviet capital
Capture of Melitopol was celebrated
in a similar fashion Saturday.
Several Russian infantry division.
attacked west of Krichev, in White
Russia, yesterday, the Berlin radio
said today
The Russians attacked on a widt
front under cover of fog. but Ger.
man counterattacks repulsed then
and ironed out local break -thrOuehs