Evening star., 1944-03-20
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON, Mar. 20.-Russiar
troops vaulting the Dniestel
River on a 31-mile front today
struck into Bessarabia, part O.
prewar Rumania.
(The Russian newspaper Pravda
said today the Red troops ad-
vancing in BeSsarabia were with
in sight of the Carpathian Noun
tains.
(The newspaper said the Ger
mans were driven to the verge
Of chaos, and that the time was
ripe for decisive blows from the
east, west and south"-meaning
an Allied invasion of Europe.)
To the north the German higf
command announced evacuation ol
the outf1anked defense bastion O,
Vinnitsa. zhmerinka to the south
west OF Vinnitsa already had fallen
The German withdrawal wideneo
the Red Army break through on the
Middle Bug River sector. choppine
OH part Of the Nazi line east OF
Proskurov.
The German conmunique said
Vinnitsa, where the invaders had
waged a stubborn defense for weeks
was evacuated according to plan
after destruction of war installa-
tions-the usual German phrase
ology.
New Threat to Axis.
The Red Army plunge into Bessa-
rabia posed new threat to the Ger
mans, as we'll as to the satellite gov
ernment of Rumania.
AS the Russians poured masses of
men and equipment across the
Dniester on bridges left intact by
the fleeing Germans, thousands of
panic stricken Rumanian civilians
were reported evacuating villages in
the path OF the Soviet advance and
BIC transmitters appealed con-
stantly to Rumania to desert her
German ally.
Moscow said thousands of Ger
mans and Rumanians were slain
yesterday-many being hurled into
the Dnlester to perish-in a surge
which overwhelmed more than &c
Bessarabian villages The advance
apparently confronted the Nazis in
the Odessa sector to the southeast
with the threat of a major debacle
as the Russians headed for the Dan
ube estuary in an effort to wall of
the NaZi line of retreat into Lower
Rumania.
Poised for Lwow Drive.
Meanwhile, far to the north. In
old Poland, Marshal Gregory K
Zhukov's 1st Ukrainian Army wa.
reported poised for drive on Lwow
after capturing the hilltop fortress
OF kremenets, 70 miles to the north
east, and sweeping forward another
10 miles to seize a village.
The controlled Scandi-
navian Telegraph Bureau quoted
front-line reports to Berlin as saying
the Russians also had nearly com
pleted preparations for a big new
offensive on the northern front
which has not been mentioned il
Soviet communiques since the Rec
Army several weeks ago was re.
ported besieging the rail hub ol
Pskov, gateway to the Baltic.
Yesterdays Soviet communique
announcing the triumphant culmi.
nation of the winter campaign sale
355 localities were taken in the pre-.
vious "a hours by the three Rex
armies smashing forward on
broad front from inside old Polano
down to the Black Sea.
Reach Dniester on Wide Front.
The I'd Ukrainian Army reached
the Dniester on a front of NOR,
than 62 miles, the bulletin declared
Among the 40 or more communitie
On the west bank listed as captured
was the Moldavian district town O
Soroki, near Yampol.
The offensive of the Soviet unit
was SO vigorous and shattering,
the communique said, that in ;
number Of places the Germans hat
no time even to destroy bridges
The enemy was pressed back to tn,
river and suffered enormous losses