Evening star., 1944-10-21
Capture Of Belgrade
Frees YugosIav Units
For Drive on zagreb
BY the Associated Press.

MOSCOW, Oct. Zl.-MdrShal
Tito's Yugosav Partisans, freed
for new actions by the capture
of their capital, Belgrade, joined
with the Red Army today IN
drives toward the Croatian pup
pet seat of Zagreb and Budapest,
the strife torn Hungarian
capital.
Zagreb lies 225 miles northwest Of
Belgrade in the Sava River Valley.
Budapest is on the Danube 100 miles
north of Belgrade.
East and Southwest of Budapest
other Russian forces supplemented
by Romanian units rumbled up
three main highways leading to the
Hungarian capital. but they en-
countered stiff resistance from large
German tank and antitank forces
beyond the TisZa River
admiral Nicholas Horthy, for
mer Hungarian regent, is in Ger
many, Berlin's Transocean news
agency said today
"a dispatch of the German
news agency DNB said Horthy
left Budapest in special plane,
accompanied by his family and
by Marshal Vattay, former chief
of the military chancellory, and
Maj. Gen. Brunssik.
tHorthy's government fell and
gave way to more pro-German
regime after he addressed an ap-
peal for an armistice to the AL
lied governments last Sunday
The number of German captives
seized in the liberation of Belgrade
swelled toward 10000 as the Rus
slams and Yugoslavs mopped up
every corner of the broken city, dig
ging storm troops from cellars and
attics of blasted buildings. Large
numbers of enemy troops were
seized along the Danube and Sava.
where they had run in desperation
before the wildly celebrating troops
of Tito.
Much Loot Taken>
A great amount of German equip
ment, including tanks and self-pro-
PEELED guns, fell to the Yugoslav-
Russian armies after nearly week
Of street fighting in Belgrade.
1t. Velimir Terzich. head of Mar
shall Tito's military mission in the
Soviet Union, called the occupation
OF Belgrade "a very important stra-
tegical junction for carrying the Of
fensive into Germany"
Red Star said the city was taken
with four-column drive extending
from the southeast to the southwest
with Danube f1otilla coming up
under the cover of darkness and
pouring Salvos at the enemy from
the rear. Gen. Feodor I. Tolbukhin
directed the Russian attack.
Meanwhile. Premier Stain also
has announced the capture of Hun
garys third ity-Debrecen-a con-
quest that broke the back of Ger
man resistance in Eastern Hungary
after prolonged and furious armored
battle estimated to have cost the
Germans and Russians a total of
1000 tanks.
Official Russian silence still en-
veloped the East Prussian front.
But this was not a source of sur
prise here, for when the news finally
Is released it is expected to be as
sensational as the announcement
OF the Romanian drive in August.
Berlin announced last night
that Red Army troops had pene-
trated II miles inside East Prus-
sia on an 80-mile front. The
Germans also said the Russians
in Hungary had rolled 80 miles
beyond Debrechen, reaching the
rail town of Tiszacsege on the
Tisza River some IS miles east of
the capitalD
The 4th Ukranian Army group
under Col. Gen. Ivan Petrou was
pouring down the Ruthenian high
lands for a concentrated drive with
the right wing of Marshal Rodion
Y. Malinovsky's I'd Ukranian Army
In an arc north of Budapest calcu-
lated to slice in half the German
line between Central Hungary and
Southern Slovakia.
hoi SiIol mdiillONSky leIL wing
was embroiled in a fierce struggle
with German rearguards in the
vicinity of Szolnok. less than so
miles southeast of Budapest.
AT Zagreb, the puppet premier Of
Croatia, DR.. Ante Pavelic, has been
reported on the verge of flight for
some time. Marshal Titos Parti-
sans have been camping almost on
the edge of the city. Good rail routes
along the north bank of the Sava
from Belgrade could be exploited
for Russian advance northward to
join with these Partisan troops.
Southeast of Belgrade, the Rus
sian communique said a total of IT,
lat tropped Germans were killed or
captured in eliminating an enemy
pocket.