Evening star., 1944-01-11
PRESIDENT URGES NATIONAL SERVICE LAW
All Of Sofia Is Reported Af|ome
After Heavy U. S.-British Raids;
Reds Pressing Toward Rail Line
Soviet Forces Slash
Two Branches FEEDING
Odessu-Worsuw Link
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
MOSCOW, Jan. 11.-Russian
spearheads, steadily bringing
war nearer to Rumania, drove
toward the vital Odessa Warsaw
railway today, and advance
scouts felt out the eastern bank
OF the Southern Bug River after
capturing a long stretch of land
southeast of Zhmerinka, a juno
ton on that main railway line.
To the rear, the I'd Ukraine Army
OF Gen. Ivan S. Konev fought with
in Is miles of the Dnieper bend rail
town of Smela, after wiping out 5000
Nazis encircled north of Kirovograd.
tThe German high command
declared the Russians had
launched new attack from their
bridgehead north of Kerch in the
Crimea, with fighting still con-
tinuing. There was no Soviet
confirmation. Berlin also said
fighting ragged all day yesterday
for possession of Sarny, rail city
35 miles within old PolandD
Threat to Railway Increases.
Gen. Nikolai Vatutin s lst Ukraine
Army hourly increased the threat of
severing the Odessa Warsaw railway
disaster for the Germans which
would throw them back on Rumania
for supplies and use of railways and
highways, and put the biggest bur-
den yet on that satellite nation.
The danger to the Germans in the
Smela gap also mounted steadily.
The German formations which
were annihilated were the remnants
OF three tank divisions. one infan-
try division and a motorized division
|-totaling perhaps $4,000 men. Only
few members of these units were
said to have escaped the trap.
Gen. Vatutin's forces, battling for
ward on Gen. Konev's right, slashed
two branch lines feeding the Odessa
Warsaw railway and captured Bere-
znoe and Ludvipol, % and 81 miles.
respectively, southeast of Sarny.
Listing yesterdays advances, a
Russian communique said more
than 10000 Germans were slain
during the day.
1000 More Wiped Out.
In addition to the 5000 wiped out
by Gen. Konev's forces, Gen. Vatu-
tins veterans accounted for 1000
more as they drove toward Sarny
Advance units of the Red Army were
reported five miles east of Sarny
yesterday.
Berlin dispatches to Stock
holm newspapers said the Ger
mans had evacuated Sarny and
that Gen. Vatutin's Army is
threatening to encircle Rovno,
another rail junction so miles to
the southwest.
Gen. Vatutin's left wing, operating
about 10 miles to the west of Gen
konev's army, captured Voronovitsa
and Nemirov in a drive for Vinnitsa
and the Warsaw-Odessa Railway. A
junction of the two forces would
isolate thousands of Germans al
ready outflanked in the Smela-
kanev sector of the Dnieper bend
Gen. Konev's advance guards were
within Is miles of Smela, the COM
communique reported.
Rail Line Severed.
Capture of Voronovitsa, 13 miles
southeast of Vinnitsa, severed the
Voronovitsa- -Khristinovka rail line
and put the Russi<ns within 7 miles
of the Bug River, and 81 miles from
the Odessa Warsaw Railway. The
Bug forms the last natural Nazi de-
tense line before the Dniester River.
(Berlin broadcasts said Rus
sian attempt to land troops on
the Black Sea coast at Ochakov,
between Odessa and the Dnieper
River mouth, had been repulsed.
The Moscow communique made
no mention of this claim.)
Russian guerrilla forces were re-
ported lending invaluable aid to the
regular Red Army forces, the Soviet
communique reported. They were
marching with Gen. Vatutin in his
thrust into Rovno Province (east-
ern port of old Poland, and were
active on the Black Sea coast near
Odessa, where they were wreckine
German rail facilities.
Troop Trains Derailed.
Yesterday two troop trains were
derailed, 200 Germans killed, a
large number" of prisoners taken
and 48 guns, together with much
war material, were captured.
The two armies captured 116 towns
and villages in their westward
sweeps yesterday. the war bulletin
said, and one column was converg-
ing on Shepetovka, rail junction
which commands the gateway to the
southern half of old Poland. Soviet
spearheads were less than 20 miles
distant on three sides of the juno
ton. the communique added.
Capture of Yarovatka, 80 miles
southwest of Smela, by Gen. Vatu-
tins forces, severed the important
Smela-Khristinovka railway also
leading to the Odessa Warsaw line
thus drawing the net tighter around
those Germans caught between the