Evening star., 1944-04-14
Sevastopol Fall
ToRed Forces
Held Imminent
Axis Troops Fleeing
In Crimeu Reported
Out of Control
1y the Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press.
MOSCOW, April 14.-The pros
pect Of the fall of Sevastopol to-
day-the Russian orthodox Good
Friday-aroused the imagina-
ton Of the Russian people as the
Red Army slashed through dis
organized groups of Germans
and Romanians, many of whom
were surrendering by battalions.
Red Stars correspondent, Maj.
Vastly Ignatiev. said "the enemy has
cracked at the seams" with fleeing
Axis troops out of control and in
great confusion, as Gen. Feodor I.
Tolbukhin's 4th Ukrainian Army
and Gen. Andrei I. Yeremenko's
Maritime Army bore down on the
naval base which resisted enemy
attack for nine months in 194I and
1912.
dispatches received In Lon
don said the Russians were only
as miles from Sevastopol)
Deserted by their commanders.
scores of German and Romanian
battalions raced for the port in the
bright Crimean sun, but it appeared
that even If they reached the base
before the Red Army tanks their
escape would be impossible.
No Place to Go, He Said.
"Your tanks have made sheep of
u.s." said German 1t. Wolfgang Rost
I'VE are racing to the sea, but even
If We get there we have no place to
go. Those of us who do not sur
render will be killed.
The plain-speaking officer, who
was captured on the road between
Simferopol and Sevastopol, made
the statement to Red Army officers
in the presence of the correspond
ent for the Moscow newspaper
Izvestia.
The road from Simferopol, a 35-
mile stretch, is all down hill, and
parallels the Central Crimean rail-
way.
Maj. Ignatiev said he saw one en-
tire battalion surrender with all its
weapons. Izvestia's correspondent
reported he witnessed the surrender
without resistance Of two other bat
talions, and said the last effort by
the German command to establish
some kind of order in the ranks of
the Axis forces was made at Sim
feropol.
A Russian. communique recorded
In London last, night said already
more than 10000 Axis prisoners
had been captured in the Cri-
mean campaign, but there was
no information available on the
total number of enemy dead, outside
of the 5000 listed on Wednesday
and yesterday. A final check was
expected TO increase that number
greatly. field dispatches indicated.
Crimean Capital Falls.
Yesterday Gen. Tolbukhin's forces
stormed the capital city of Simfe-
ropol and captured the west coast
port of Yevpatoriya. In the eastern
part OF the peninsula Gen. Yere-
menko's forces swept through the
port Of Feodosiya to Koktebel. 8
miles farther down the southern
coast. A second column thrust to
the west to capture the town of
Krim, II miles away, to cut OF the
enemy units who had fed there
from Feodosiya.
Today Russian forces had liberat-
ed more than three-fourths of its
10,000-square-mile area, had iso-
lated German forces in the western
wedge Of the peninsula from their
groups in the south and east by
capturing Yevpatoriya, and had
swept up or destroyed tremendous
amounts of enemy military stores
and equipment, according to the
Moscow bulletin.
500 Villages Taken.
More than 600 towns and villages,
In addition to the 3 major cities,
fell to the Russians yesterday, 500
Of them to Tolbukhin's forces.
Again the Crimean offensive over
shadowed news from other sectors
OF the front, Except for the cap
ture of Ovidiopol, southwest of
Odessa, the communique said there
was only fighting of local import
ance."
With the seizure of Ovidiopol the
Russians drove all but few isolated
groups of the Odessa garrison across
the Dnepr estuary and these were
rapidly being exterminated by So
Wet mopping-up forces.