The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-03-20
By LOUIS F. KEEMLE United Press War Analyst)

AAC &NSA AAAy JA66CAAduI AOAASA into Bessarabia and southern Fo- land today, crushing the disinte- grating German forces in its path.
 American bombers carried the nonstop aerial offensive against Germany into its sixth day, while in southern Italy the Germans threw in waves of endorsements to halt | the threatened Allied break through | in the hotly-contested Casino area.
 The Russians had crossed the | Dniester river on a 3l-mile front | and had cleared the Germans from | Its east bank along a section 62 | miles wide. The line of the Dniester | was preached in the first fury of | the Soviet assault and the possi- | bility that the Germans could hold l any line at all along the river was rapidly vanishing.
 The stoutly-held German salient | which still extended eatward to the Bug river within the Ukraine be- tween Proskurov and Vinnitsa was cracking and in imminent danger of being wiped out. Berlin admitted the evacuation of Viniitsa, indi- eating that its defenses were col- lapsing in that exposed sector.
 All along the front, the question appeared to be not whether the Germans could hold but how much of their shattered forces they could withdraw without disaster. Their next stand, if they can salvage enough of their retreating armies to make an effective one, seemed | destined to be along the Prut river | in Rumania and the Carpathian | foothills to the northwest.
 The German problem was made | increasingly desperate by the rap idity with which the Russians over- | ran the inadequate railways which | provide the principal means of es- cape from the mud clogged Ukraine. l
 One of these routes, leading south | ward into Rumania from the Pros- kurov-Vinnitsa sector, was severed | when the Russians reached Mogi- | lev-PodolSki on the DnieSter. The | other, branching towards both the Polish and BesSarabian borders, was threatened in the area below Pros kurov.
 LwOw Threatened
 To the northwest, the Russians were hammering at the outer de- lenses of Lwow, the vital com- munications hub of southeastern Poland, as they captured Kreme- nets, Il miles east of Lwow.
 The principal German concern now were extricating their armies and improvising an adequate de- fenSe of the essential Ploesti oil fields of Rumania. The latter prob- lem was complicated by the attitude of Rumania, which was reported seeking desperately to find a way out of the war and in no mood to shed blood for the obviously lost German cause. Bulgaria, too, seemed to be deserting the sinking ship and a Hungarian broadcast said all women and children had been ordered evacuated from Sofia, the bombed capital.
 Another German ally, Finland, appeared to have lost her chance to get out from under by baking at Russias proffered terms. Stock holm saw little prospect that Rus. Sia would negotiate any more and the dismayed Films were expecting their strongest friend, the United States, to break of relations.
 The air offensive against Hitler's fortress was led by American heavy bombers which crossed to the con- British Mosquitoes had hit central tinent in waves after n-engined and western Germany during the night. American and British me dium bomberS also attacked targets in northern France this morning, including Creil. railway junction 25 miles north of Paris.
 Air Assaults
 Today's attacks came after a weekend during which two-way assault from Britian and Italy struck at targets in Germany, along the French coast, in Australia, Jugo- slavia and Bulgaria. Austrian tar- | gets included Klagenfurt and Graz |
 The Germans were making a deS- i perate stand around Casino and | still had a tOehold in the ruins of | the town. More important, they held | positions in the surrounding hills 1 and were not content to stay on the | defensive but were able to make | counter attacks. Positions changed | hands repeatedly in the savage fighting.
 In the Far East, American forces almost completed occupation of the Admiralty Islands with capture of the Japanese base of Lorengau, giv- ing them all of the vital areas of the group. American war planes | ranged far and wide. striking from Paramushiro, 1000 miles north of | Tokyo. to objectives in the Caroline The Price of Victory 1