Evening star., 1944-02-18
NazisEvacuate
Staraya Russa
ToShortenLine
Russians Liquidote
Divisions Trapped
In Dnieper Bend
Ry the Associatec Press.
ro%oN EoL :,

E9 lhe ASSoclatec Press.
LONDON, Feb. 18.-The Berlin
radio today announced the Ger
man evacuation last night of
Staraya Russa, heavily-forti-
fed railway station Just south
of Lake linen on the Baltic
front.
Evacuation of Staraya Russa. the
Nazls mightiest base between Lenin-
grad and Smolensk, in a broadening
crackup of defenses seemed to pre-
sage complete German abandonment
of Northern Russia.
The withdrawal, according to the
broadcast, was made in order ito
shorten the front line and gain fur
ther operational reserves" and was
carried out without interference"
after military installations were de-
stroyed
A Moscow war bulletin said Rus
sian forces striking south from Luga
toward Pskov captured the town of
Malaga Utorgosh, severing the main
highway between Feoflova-Pustin
and Shlmsk. Malaga Utorgosh is
81 miles northeast of Pskov.
Trapped Nazis Liquidated.
Meanwhile, nine days after re-
Jectlng Russian ultimatum to sur
render, remnants of 10 German divi-
slons and l brigade trapped in the
upper Dnieper bend were liquidated
by Soviet troops yesterday in the
greatest single Nazi disaster since
the battle of Stalingrad, Moscow
announced today.
German losses in the battle. which
began five days before the surrender
ultimatum, totaled $4,000 killed and
1000 taken prisoner, said a tri-
umphant order of the day by Pre-
mler Stain, which praised Gen.
Ivan S. Konev and his I'd Ukrain-
ian Army for achieving the victory.
In addition, another 81 300 Nazis
were slain in vain efforts to smash
the Russian Gordon around the
trapped enemy from the southwest,
the Russians said, bringing the
overall German death toll to nearly
$4,000.
About 1000 or 5000 German Off
GERS escaped from the trap by plane,
said communique of the Soviet in
formation bureau, which was broad
cast by the Moscow radio.
Many Commit Suicide.
Adolf Hitler had ordered the
trapped troops to hold their posi-
tlons at all costs, Moscow said. and
gave direct instructions to the en-
clrcled German officers and men to
commit suicide if their position be-
came hopeless" Many did So ac-
cording to the Soviet communique.
The Russian communique said the
last phase of the battle was fought
in frost and snoWstorms which fol-
lowed days of mild weather in which
the Red Army troops were forced to
carry all their supplies by hand
when their transport was mired by
rain and mud.
"Abondoning artillery and trans
port the enemy launched his last
desperate attempt to break out of
the encirclement which had mar
rowed down to it's limit" the war
bulletin said. Early in the morn
ing German troops attacked in
columns. Our troops met the
Hitlerites with powerful artillery,
mortar, rifle and machine-gun fire.
Scattered groups Of Germans threw
themselves hither and thither, but
nowhere found an escape from the
iron ring.
81 NaZi Tanks Lost.
"Our tankmen and infantrymen
breaking into the middle of the
enemy, wiped out the Hitlerites
Many surrendered. BY the end OF
the day our troops completed the
liquidation. ="
In addition to the heavy losses in
f1icted on the besieged Nazis, Moscow
said Marshal Fritz Won Mannstein' s
final counterattacks yesterday from
outside the Red Army'S encircling
lines cost him 1900 men and Sd
tanks and self-propelled guns. OF
the booty captured in the 100
square-mile trap, Stalin's order OF
the day said:
"The entire German equipment
and war material was captured by
our troops"
Van Mannstein, who used eight
tank divisions and hundreds of
planes in his attempts TO lift the
seige, lost in addition 70 the 21.9OO
men killed, 800 planes, including 17s
Junkers, So tri-motored transport
planes, 600 tanks and 372 guns, be-
tween February and February II
the Soviet Information Bureau said
Nuzis Credit ChurohiII's