Evening star., 1944-09-09
|0ffensiiyeSeen
Freeing Balkans
|0fNazisin in Week
Block SeoPorts
Soon Moy Be Free
To Allied Ships
By the Associated Press.

MCSCOW, sept. 9.-Ihe Red
Army's sweep through Bulgaria
appeared likely today to free the
Balkan Peninsula entirely Of
Germans in less than week
and open sea lanes from the
Mediterranean to Ukrainian
ports In the near future.
The drive was co-ordinated with
operations Of Marshal Tito,s Parti.
sans and Allied Commando units in
Yugoslavia.
(1he combined operations
threatened 250,000 Germans in
the lower Balkans with entrap-
ment. Rome dispatches said
roads in Greece were jammed
with German transport moving
northward and that American
bombers were attacking transport
lanes)
Opening Of the Mediterranean for
shipments to Black Sea ports would
cancel the need for the vast over
land supply route from the Persian
Gulf. The American Persian Gulf
Command, whose transportation
achievements in Iran have been i'm
pressive In the last two years, Is
expected to be available soon for
transfer to Pacific theater of war.
Naxi Counterattacks Halted.
In Northern Poland, with the
threat Of autumn rain and mud
growing daily, Gen. M. Zakharov
subdued heavy German counterat.
tacks against his Narew River bulge
toward East Prussia southwest Of
Lomza.
The German Air Force strongly
supported the enemy ground effort
In this sector, emphasizing its i'm
portance in the German scheme Of
all-out defense of the Reich front
against eastern invasion, regardless
OF weaknesses elsewhere.
A frontline dispatch to the Russian
Army newspaper Red Star admitted
the Germans at first made small
gains, but said these were wiped out
in bitter fighting.
Heavy rains turning the dusty
Polish plains into a sticky quagmire
usually begin in mid-September. Bad
weather would confront the Soviet
high command with new difficulties
In trying to break the deadlock on a
front extending from the vicinity
OF East Prussia tothe approaches Of
Krakow.
New Offensive Reported.
CBerlin reported that the
Russians had opened a new offen-
sive on the route to Krakow in
Southern Poland)
Russian and Romanian forces won
strategic control of Southern Tran
sylvania with the occupation of the
communications center of Sibiu and
Soviet tanks and shock troops were
pushing rapidly on toward the Mures
River, which flows into the Hun
garian plain. Russian armor had
driven within 12S miles of the nat
open frontier of Hungary.
The Soviet Union accepted Sofas
request for. an armistice following
Bulgaria's declaration of war against
Germany. Russian veterans who
moved into Bulgaria from Romania
on 135-mile front were greeted
oy the Bulgars as brothers in arms,
(The Sofia radio announced to-
day that former Premier Kimon
Georgiev, who had opposed COL
laboration with Germany, had
taken over the premiership from
konstantin Muraviev and formed
new government. Muraviev
broadcast proclamation last
night that Bulgaria had de-
clared war on Germany in ac-
cord with Soviet demands)
Active Role for Bulgaria Seen,
Front dispatches said no HOSTILE
ties Jared the Russian advance
across Bulgaria, which followed the
capture of two big ports, Ruschux
tRuse) on the Danube and Varna
on the Black Sea. Presumably the
Bulgarian Army, now a cobelliger.
ent, will be assigned an active role
In the Balkan cleanup.
The Kremlin, through the press
and radio, continued to call on the
Hungarian people to follow Bulgaria
IN abandoning the doomed Hitlerite
clique and save their independence.
Bulgaria's outright participation
in the war turned approximately
one-third of the total area of the
Balkans into Allied territory.
It transformed the German with.
drawals from Southern Yugoslayia.
Albania, Greece and the Aegean
Islands into desperate action which
might end in final disaster at any
moment.
(The Sofia radio announced
today that former Premier XII
mon Georgiev had taken over.
the premiership of Bulgaria from
Konstantin Muraviev and formed
a new government. The broad
cast gave no explanation of the
shift
The Russians were still a consid.
cradle distance from the Bulgarian
capital Of Sofia, but Moscow antici-
pated that q drive across the Danube
from north Of the capital would be
announced at any time.
Northwest of Bucharest Soviet
Alpine units climbed through the
Transylvanian Alps via Boita Pass
and captured the ran city Of Sibiu
against stiff German resistance in
a drive toward Hungary.
Germon Flying Bomb