Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-08
Swiftly Advancing Reds Pouring
trough Big Gaps in Nozi Lines;
Menace to kirovogrod Increases
Drive in Old Poland
Reaches Point II
Miles From Surny
MAP on Page A-3,)
BY HENRY C. CASSIDY,

hsooCidteu rTeSS war Correspondents.
MOSCOW, Jan. 8.-Troops of
the LIST and I'd Ukrainian Armies
poured through great gaps in
the German lines in swift ad-
vances today and units which
had surrounded Kirovograd
smashed to within 3 miles of
the city in one place in the
Dnieper bend country, as the
Red Army's winter offensive
continued undated.
Advance units of the force which
captured Klesow, at the northern tip
Of the great drive, were plunging
deeper into Rovno Province (east-
ern part of Old Poland) and reached
point within II miles of Sarny,
which is IS miles inside the prewar
border.
Farther south from encircled Kiro-
vograd, stronghold for the German
forces in the Dnieper bend, some
Soviet forces advanced to within 10
miles of Dolinovka, western railway
junction which feeds Krivoi Rog.
Russians Approach Kanev.
Meanwhile, troops of Gems. Nikolai
F. Vatutin and Ivan S. Konev, which
have Joined south Of Kiev, were
within striking distance of Kanev,
81 miles southwest of the Ukranian
capital.
CThe German high command
said in its Saturday communique
that fierce fighting" is raging in
Kirocograd.
tThe British Broadcasting
Corp, in an announcement re-
corded by CHS, said Kirovograd's
outer defenSes already were I'M
der shell fire, with substantial"
Nazi forces cut off there)
Front line dispatches said the fate
OF the German garrison cut off at
kirovograd was already decided.
They said the Germans were now
battling desperately to halt the
westward drive toward Novou-
krainka, junction on the next to last
escape railway left open to large
German forces in the Smela area
between the Kirovograd and Kiev
offensives.
Reds Tightening Moose.
In the Kiev offensive, the Soviet
southWestward drive in which new
Soviet successes were reported west
and south of Berdichev and along
the Shepetovka Railway was tight
ening a moose about Vinnitsa from |
three sides.
Vinnitsa, Bug River garrison point
Tor the Odessa Warsaw Railway |
junction of Zhmerinka, lies 20 miles
northeast of Zhmerinka and less
than so miles from the Dniester |
River. (The Dniester forms the pre-
war Rumanian border.)
Gen. Konev's tanks were reported
In front line dispatches to be Great
ing pants along the rear of the Nazi
Ukralnian forces, with German
communications reported to have
been reduced to congested bottle
necks.
The entire German position was
described as shaping up as one of
the most disastrous in Hitlers Rus
sian campaign.
100 Locations Taken.
Gen. Konev's men, the captors of
Kharkov, began their offensive
January 5, today's Soviet commu-
nique said, breaking through the
German defenses on a broad front
and sweeping up more than 100 To-
calities.
'Retreating under the blows of
Soviet troops, the routed enemy
formations are abandoning their
military equipment and supplies"
the communique said. "A large
number of prisoners has been
taken"
Gen. Vatutin's forces sweeping
along in 300-mile arc in the West
ern Ukraine, also moved ahead IS
miles from Berdichev through
Tanushpol and farther south passed
through Komsomolskaya, IL miles
south of Berdichev. Still farther
south, advance Soviet units passed
Lipovets, Al miles southeast of
Berdichev and Is miles east of Vim
nitSa.
Wedge Broadened Farther.
The wedge being driven toward
the Vinnitsa railroad junction was
farther broadened by the capture
of Oratovo, % miles east of Lipo-
vets.
Between the two zones of the
Red Army offensives the Germans
in the long salient extending east
to Smela were threatened with en-
circlement unless they use the sin
gle railroad back to the Dniester
as an avenue of escape.
Asserting that the Soviet often
siveS ARE not to be moderated
in their menace" Capt. Ludwig
Sertorius, Nazi military analyst.
declared in broadcast that one
of the next goals of the Russian
drive was "either to encircle the
German Armies still operating in
the large Dnieper bend or at least
to force them to retreat to the
(See RUSSIA, Page ADD