Evening star., 1944-07-13
Russian Forces
Gain 1o Miles
Day and Night
MAP on Page Az
By the Associated Press.

troops advanced TO a point WIN
in 30 miles of the SuWalki Tri
angle of East Prussia today afte,
plunging 10 miles forward in {
day and night.
(The Suwalki Triangle is
wedge of old Poland between
East Prussia and Lithuania,
which was annexed to East PruS-
sia by the 1899 Ribbentrop- Molo-
TOW agreement in the fourth par
tition of PolandD
tSuWalki itself is only II miles
from the preWar border of East
Prussia. 1t is a city of old Poland
on wedge of land between East
Prussia and Lithuania. 1t lies 80
miles southwest of Kaunas and
90 miles from the Prussian Bal
tic coast.
A Russian drive to the Baltic
might trap two German armies
in the Russian n-anneXed states
of Estonia, Latvia and Lith-
uania.
NAll 1SoS DiodOldSU llNll Owe
den said the Russians were with
In II miles of East Prussia after
driving 80 miles beyond Grodno,
also an old Polish city. Such
proximity would mean that bat
tie echoes could be heard in
Germany ITSELF
38 Miles From Kaunas.
Other Russian columns Strucl
within 38 miles of Kaunas, old cap
ital of Lithuania. in a 7-mile ad
vance. Detachments were within q
miles of Grodno after racing 2
miles in "a hours. Yet anothe
group was so miles from Bialystok
strategic rail center leading intt
Warsaw and East Prussia. Brest
Litovsk, on the Bug River, wa
withing 81 miles of forces on tht
north and 70 of those in the Pripe
Marsh area.
Warsaw itself was within Isl
miles of Russian guns to the north
east.
Daugavpils. gateway to the Bal
tic Sea and Riga, was feeling in
creasing pressure of two huge ap-
preaching Russian armies. Already
it's garrison was like the one sur
rounded in Wilno in Lithuania
bracing for the coming blow.
Drive Against Latvia.
The newest disaster to befall, the
Germans was Gen. Andrei I. Yere-
menko's offensive against Latvia
which in its first two days cap
tured more than 1000 villages in a
break through which front dis
patches said was now 100 miles wide
and 25 miles deep north of Gen
Ivan Bagramian's lst Baltic Army
Yeremenko. fresh from his vic
tories in the Crimea, moved to
within l8 miles of the border OF
the Latvian Soviet republic on the
main Velikie Luki-Riga railway
A Moscow communicate said more
than 1000 Germans were killed and
about l 500 taken prisoner in sim
gle days fighting on the new sector
Front dispatches pictured this
latest offensive as well under way
and said the Germans were falling
back pell-mell.
The Berlin radio, apparently
preparing the German people for
news of a large-scale withdrawal
along the entire Eastern front.
said: 1T is obvious that the front
cannot remain as it is. There are
ri &c
scale counteroffensiVe ana the
other the adoption of the entire
front to new lines. Since we are
on the defensive On the east, the
second alternative is the one to
be applied.
"A military spokesman. quoted
by Radio Berlin, denied any al
legged Strengthening of German
lines in the Balkan countries
Shortening of the straight
ened German front in the Bal
tic zone is out of question" he
said. "a slight withdrawal of Ger
man lines in the PolotSk area
south OF the Baltic zone was ef-
fected in accord with the. new
situation in the central sector of
the eastern front in order to af-
ford better possibilities of pro-
tecting the Baltic zone.
THE German Army in any
case will defend and hold the Eu-
ropean area in northern and
southern sectors of the eastern
'front.'
Heavy Artillery Barrage.
A dispatch to IZvestia said Gen
Yeremenkos offensive. which Swep
in the big towns of Idritsa. % mile
east of the Latvian border, anl
Kudever. about 35 miles northeaS
of Idritsia. began with a heavy ar
tillery barrage which blasted th'
Germans permanent" fortification
as high as l30 feet in the air.
Sebezh. % miles northwest of Id
ritsa. and Opochka, IS miles south
west. the last strongholds held b,
of the Latvian middle border wer'
feeling the artillery of Gen. Yere
menko's advance field units His in
fantry famed out north and soutl
of both objectives.
To the south the right wing o
Gen. Bagramian's army. which hat
crossed the River Drissa, was L
miles from the Latvian border. TIL
left arm of Gen. Bagramian'
forces, moving up through the lax
country to the south of Daugavpils
advanced to within II miles of th'
city in the region of the village o
Rymshani.
Other Soviet forces pushed towart
Kaunas, about go miles northWes
of Wilno. Farther south Red Arm.
troops pressed to a point within 2
miles of the rail center of GrodnC
capturing Ostrino and Nowy Dwor
The drive along the railway from
Baranowicze toward Bialystok pro-
gressed with the capture of the rail.
way station of Zelwa, Ia miles eas
of the junction of Wolkowysk.
From Wilno itself a correspondent
for Red Star, the army newspaper
(see RUSSIA, Page A-4.)