Evening star., 1944-07-01
City Reported
EncircIed by
Advancing Reds


MOSCOW, July Front dis
patches said today that rem
nants of a demoralized German
Army are pouring into Minsk
now outflanked from the north
west, and that the roar of battle
is echoing through the city's
outskirts.
Storm troopers and the Gestapo
were reported trying TO create some
kind of order out of the battered
Nazi legions defending the capital
of White Russia, now Hitler's most
important bastion on his eastern
front.
Three Soviet armies converged
rapidly on Minsk from the north
east, east and southeast. Gen. Ivan
Cherniakhovsky's Sd Army streamed
through the thick forests northeast
Of the city over numerous bridges
now stretched across the BereZina
River.
lRussian troops have sur
rounded Minsk and taken pos
session Of the leading rail and
road routes leading to Warsaw
from Minsk, the British radio
said in a broadcast recorded in
New York by NBCJ
Move Through Forests.
The Russian Army paper Red Star
revealed that the main crossing of
the Berezina was made over a bridge
which guerrillas held in a pitched
battle until Red Army troops ar
rived.
The Red Star dispatch said Soviet
cavalry moved through the forests
north of Minsk and outf1anked the
city from the northwest.
Correspondents reported hundreds
of demoralized Germans surrender
ing before they reached the city.
The Red Army was represented as
having some difficulty in moving up
for a direct blow on Minsk because
OF the large number of captives
crowding the roads.
OF the fighting in the city of
Borlsov. main railway center north
east of Minsk and the Nazis' biggest
defense point before the city, Red
Star Correspondent Yakof Miletzky
said "one. street after another is
being captured
Junction Near.
1t appeared that before the end of
the day Marshal Konstantin K.
Rokossovsky's lst army and Gen.
Georg Zakharov's I'd army would
join Gen. Cherniakhovskys Sd army
before the gates of Minsk. 1t was
difficult to say whether the Russians
will attempt to storm the city with
a frontal assault or try to break into
it from the rear, as the Red Army
often does.
There was every sign that the
Germans were trying to hold Minsk
and there was the possibility that
the high command, with the aid OF
the Gestapo and storm troopers
may create enough order to stand
behind the long prepared and ex-
cellently built defenses.
Red Star said guerrillas have iso-
lated numerous Germans in the
woods which stretch from Borisov
north to Lepel.
Another dispatch said the Ger
mans offered virtually no resistance
in the forests before Minsk, but
fought spiritedly for the river cross
ings.
Details poured into Moscow of the
success of the Red Army's two wide
arms that have stretched out over
200-mile front from north and
south of Minsk from the River
Dvina to the River Pripet.
Reds in Vileika Area.
Red Stars Maj. Grigory Borosoy
reported Soviet units in the Vileika
district west and southwest of cap
tured Disna. where Gen. Ivan Bag
ramian's troops appeared headed to.
ward Riga and Llthuania and nu-
merous German communications
into the Baltic states.
Nazi resistance seemed stronger
and better organized in this area
Correspondents told of Is violent
counterattacks by defenders of Po-
lotsk, which is now hopelessly out
flanked.
In the deep South White Russian
front, the Germans, seeking tc
patch the shattered approaches to
BaranoWicze (BaranovichD and
Pinsk, introduced fresh reserves
from deep in the rear, but Red Star
correspondent Peter Troyanovsky
said they were hurled back. The
Russians have cut the Slutsk- -Minsk
highway which runs from Minsk
southwark through the valley of the