The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-01-10
Report Reds
Closing In
Continued from Page u

N[OAAbAAAdCA lawn 4 eAt3C ~
onrushing Soviets is theirs, the only
line of flight from the Krivoi Rog,
Nikolaev and Kherson regions will
be the railway running northeast
from Odessa.
That German escape artery like
wise was menaced by a Vatutin ad-
vance through Obodnoye, only %
miles short of it.
With the railroads cut, the only
way of partial salvation for the
Nazis in the bend will be a labori-
GUS push over the precarious roads
linking the southern Ukraine with
southern BeSsarabia.
The new victories on the ap-
proaches to Pomoshnaya were scored
by Gen. Ivan S. Konev's second Tx
rainian army. Below it Gen. Rodion
Y. Malinovsky's third and Gen. Fe-
dor I. Tolbukhin's fourth Ukranian
armies were poised to strike west
ward in pursuit Of the disintegrating
German forces.
The fourth Soviet armies were ex-
pected to synchronize irresistible
drives soon to clear the Germans
from the Ukraine.
Vatutin'S Vanguard already was
within 10 miles of a junction with
Konev's army. Their junction prom
ised to trap tens Of thousands OF
Germans in Dnieper pocket and
clear the way for push over the old
Rumanian border.
(The Nazi Paris radio said Ger
man Marshal Fritz Erich Won Mann
stein could muster only 100000 men
against the 1st and End Ukranian
armies 1000. 900 and the Stockholm
newspaper Tidningen quoted official
Berlin quarters as saying that the
present battles were decisive for the
entire warp
"a German DNB broadcast said
small German naval units beat off
an attempt by nine Soviet landing
boats tn put troops ashore near Per-
vomais on the Black sea coast IS
miles southwest of Nikolaev, inflict-
ing" heavy losses.").
Official Reports
Official reports said the retreating
Germans, faced with a military d.
saster eclipsing Stalingrad, attempt
ed desperate counter attacks at
several points in the western and
southwestern Ukraine, but quickly
were squelched and altogether were
driven from 10 towns and villages
on the LIST and End Ukranian fronts.
Vatutin and Knows combined
armies were engulfing network OF
six railroads and threatening TO
destroy all the northern railway
communications feeding G e m a n
armies at Odessa, Nikolaev and
other Black Sea points. One spear
head was only % miles northwest Of
the Odessa Warsaw railway, the
bottleneck into which all lines east
Of Zhmerinka run for the final exit
into Poland.
Front dispatches said Vatutin's
westernmost column was approach
ing Sarny, SO miles across the old
Polish border on the Kiev-Warsaw
railway, and its fall was believed inn
minent. The capture of Sarny would
accentuate further the split between
the German northern and southern
armies by cutting the only railway
link between the two fronts east OF
a round about route that passes
through Kowel. 80 miles to the west.
POIonnOe Captured
To the southeast, the Russians
captured Polonnoe to complete oc-
cupation of all but 10 miles OF the
railway from Berdichev to Shepe-
tovka, five-way railway junction on
the best invasion route into southern
Poland.
Vatutins southern columns, adj
vancing on a 72-mile front, seized
Obodnoye, % miles northeast OF the
Odessa Warsaw railway, an Zhorni-
shche. II miles to the southeast and
only "a miles from Bessarabia. Both
towns outflank Vinnitsa. strategic
road and railway junction above
Zhmerinka, from the east.
At the southeastern corner OF
Vatutins southern steamrolled, the
Russians captured Buki, almost
within artillery range OF the Smela-
Khristinovka railway, whose seve-
range would cost the Germans one
Of their most important transvehsal
lines In the Dnieper Bend.
10 Miles East
Only 70 miles to the east. Konev's
army crossed the Smela- znamenka
railway and hammered southwest
ward toward an eventual junction,
probably somewhere near the bord-
ers Of Odessa Province. with Vatu-
tins forces.
Knows advance guards TO the
south swept through KaTlovka, II
miles southwest Of KiTcvosrad, en-