Evening star., 1944-03-26
War Review
Red Advances Bring
Crisis in Balkans
By HosUard p. Bailey.

the point where collapse was more
likely than not.
With Red Army troops within 100
miles of the Hungarian border, with
the vital Ploesti oil field less than
$50 miles from the Russian lines
and with growing rumors of anti
war sentiment in Hungary, Rumania
and Bulgaria, Hitler dipped deeply
into his waning pool of reserves
In Germany proper and sent a score
of divisions into Hungary and Ru-
mania to seize control of the vita
points in those two nations.
v Reports were current also, though
not entirely confirmed, that German
troops had moved into Bulgaria
seizing its Black Sea ports. Bull
garia is not at war with Russia
though allied against Great Britain
and the United States.
First action in this new develop
ment came Monday when Admiral
Horthy, the regent of Hungary and
Premier Nicholas Won Kallay were
summoned to a conference with
Hitler. With the two leaders out
OF their country, German troops
moved in quickly, led by para
chutists who seized control of rail-
road centers and airf1elds. It was
at first reported that a combined
force of 100000 Germans and Ru-
manians had taken part in this
action, but later in the week. Ru-
mania suffered the same fate. &C
cording to officials at it's Legation
in Ankara.
Hull Urges Revolt.
Quickly after the invasion of
Hungary, Secretary of State Hull
called on loyal Hungarians to revolt,
promising them that their position
at the postwar peace table will
be much stronger if they resist
now and aid in the. defeat of
Hitler.
The Ragged Guard" secret
organization in Hungary, is already
reported working to oppose the
Nazi-established puppet government
which is attempting to comply with
Hitler's demand that Hungary in
crease its army from 100000 to 8O0,-
600 and fill gaps in the German
lines opposed to the Russians.
Turkey, more than a little con-
cerned over this new concentration
of German troops in the Balkans,
wonders whether Hitler's plan in
cludes occupation of Turkish Thrace.
gateway to the Balkans and con-
trolling the approaches to the
DardenelleS.
A report yesterday indicated that
Rumanian Foreign Office officials
are in conference at Ankara, the
official explanation being that a
commercial treaty is being dis
cussed, something as logical as a
discussion of rearrangement of the
living room furniture while the
house is on fire.
In the actual fighting, Red troops,
pouring through a 35-mile break in
the Axis lines, have advanced at
some points to positions only Is
miles from the Prut River, the pres
ent boundary between Russia and
Rumania. The prewar border at
the Dniester was crossed Monday
by heavy Red forces which began
a rapid advance across Bessarabia.
The leap over the Dniester was ia
cilitated by the failure of the flee
ing Nazis to take time to destroy
the bridges.
At the present time three definite
are being pushed out
by the Reds. One aims at outfank-
ing Tarnopol, on the already-sev-
cred Odessa-Lwow railroad, and
reaching out to cut the north-south
line which connects Lwow and
Ploesti. Another is striking out
from Mogilev-Podolski, which was
seized a few days ago, and seeks to
cross the Prut and cut the Lwow-1
Ploesti rail line at another point
and trap part of Won Mannstein's
army operating south of Vinnitsa.
The third spearpoint Is moving for
ward above Nikolaev on the Bug
River and hopes to trap or force
withdrawal of all enemy forces in
elAAo a4 ouiAd oOCOSd.
New Baltic Offensive.
Marshal Zhukov's 1st Ukrainian
Army is moving steadily though
slowly toward Lwow, the important
Polish industrial city. A major Bal
tic offensive is also in the making
and there are indications that it
shortly will be moving forward. In
anticipation, the Finnish govern
ment at Helsinki is completing
plans to move northward.
While Hitler faced unpleasant
facts last week, the Allies had some
unsatisfactory developments to con-
slider also Despite the unprece-
dented weight of the bombing at
tack on Casino, which was said to
have reduced that key point of the
Gustave Line in Southern Italy to a
pile of rubble, and despite the
prompt exploitation of the advan-
tage gained by the temporary
stunning of the Nazi defenders, the
New Zealand units in the 5th Army
which swarmed into the wreckage
to gain complete control have been
forced to yield ground under fierce
German counterattacks.
The Nazis moved up heavy artil-
lery which proved invaluable in
driving the Allied forces out of some
sections Of the city. 1t was said
that large numbers of fresh troops
had moved up to the front through
underground passages which had
not been damaged by the air
pounding.
After falling back from their ad-
vanced positions, the New Zeal
anders as the week ended were
edging forward again against stiff
resistance.
Because the enemy positions can
not be outfanked, all assaults must
be frontal and the maneuver is diff
ficult.
On the -Nettuno beachhead
there was no change in position.
The German controlled Rome
radio announced Wednesday that
the Nazis intend to withdraw all
forces from Rome and divert all
military traffic around the city so
that if damage comes to Rome from
Allied bombing, the onus will be
I1y,O,, fIn A1Iioe