The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-02-04
The War On Mony Fronts

forces close to disaster on three fronts today while Allied Fifth army troops repulsed four German count er-attacks against their beachhead below Rome.
 In the air war, British Mosquito bombers attacked western Germany for the third straight night and Nazi bombers countered with two small scale raids on London.
 On the Russian front, 100000 to 10000 German troops already were completely surrounded by smash ing double Russian break through south of Kiev. Another 250,0 faced B like fate further south in the Uk- raine as the Soviet forces pushed on toward the Dneister river. The pow erful new offensives were announc- ed by Premier Josef Stalin in an or der of the day yesterday.
 The fast-b breaking Russian drives undermined Field Marshal Fritz Erich Won Mannstein's entire de- fenSe network in the Ukraine and put the Soviets on the march along almost the whole 750-mile front from the Gulf of Finland to the Black Sea.
 In the northern sector, Gen. Leo- hid A. Govorov's armies famed out in a developing offensive that car ried five miles across the ESton1an border. cut the PSkov- -Narva railway and posed an immediate threat to Narva, historic railroad and highway junction athwart the 27-mile-wide land corridor between the Gun o1 Finland and Lake Peipus.
 At the southern exit area from the Germans Leningrad Salient, Gen. Kyril A. MeretSkov's troops smashed repeated counter attacks by rein forced German units west Of NoV- gorod.
 Central Front
 On the centrol front, the second Baltic army carried its new drive ,oward Latvia into its four day with he capture of Abovo, 10 miles west If Noyosokolniki. The Russians still aad not confirmed the enemy eVac- nation of Rovno, administrative cen- ter of the occupied Ukraine, ana Luck. 43 miles to the west, announc- ed by the Germans yesterday.
 The German troops facing ami, hilation in the Ukraine comprised nine infantry and one tank divisions encircled by the first and second Russian Ukranian armies in an area of about 1000 square miles backed bv a -miIe-stretch of the Dnleper river between Cherkasi and hleV. The Red forces killed 5000 enemy troops and destroyed or captured oo tanks in smashing futile German at- tempts to break out of the trap yes terday.
 Below Rome, the NaziS, strongly reinforced by troops ana arniol rushed down from northern 1taly' launched their long expected coun- ter-attacks against the Allied m- yasion beachhead, hitting the British lines on the north flank three tlmes and the Americans to the east once, only to be hurled back with heavy casualties.
 Massed German guns supported the futile counter offensive ana the Luftwaffe for the first time in days appeared in force as wave on wave of enemy assault troops crashed against the Allied lines. German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was reported to have personally directed the onslaughtS.
 As the fury Of the enemy assaults spent itself against the stout Allied defenses, the American and British lines remained substantially unal- tered. stretching along F 1-2 mile segment of the Rome Naples elec- tric railway from Camp Leone, 15 air line miles south of Rome, to Cisternia.
 Fifty miles below the still ex- banding Allied beachhead, the Americans penetrated deep into the streets of Casino, anchor of the enemy's outfanked Gustav line, in savage cloSe-quarter fighting with determined German defenders who had converted the stone houses into individual fortresses.
 American and French mountain troops driving down from the north simultaneously were reported to have advanced within striking dis tance of the via Casilina, along which the Germans were believed still holding open narrow supply route into the bastion town.
 Across the Apennines on the Eighth Army front, British Imperial troops launched a strong offensive against Nazi hill positions about 20 miles inland from the Adriatic coast.
 The RATS Mosquitoes had re- turned from their night raid on Germany when strong formations of Allied bombers, escorted by fight CT planes. swept outward over the Channel in an almost unbroken 9O- minute procession to round out a week of daylight attacks on Axis Europe.
 About 70 enemy planes crossed the British east and southeast coasts during the night, but only Ae penetrated as far as London and Suf were shot down. Twelve or sa5saV persons were killed by German EOMibS in London and southern England