Evening star., 1944-02-01

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, Feb. 1.-The Red
Army continued it's steady drive
toward the Estonian frontier to-
day, with units of Gen. Leonid
A. Govorov's Leningrad Army
battling stubborn German troops
IN the streets of Kingisepp, gate
way to the Baltic and 13 miles
from the ancient fortified city of
Narva, 5 miles inside the Esto-
nian border.
Both the Moscow communiuue
and front-line dispatches reported
continuing Russian successes all
along the northern front. Soviet
troops crossed the Luga River, q
miles southeast Of Kingisepp, and
captured the town of Lipa, 2 miles
farther west, in addition to forcing
the water barrier at several other
points north and south of Kingisepp.
German broadcasts said the Rus
slams made further advances in a
few sectors between Lake linen
anad the Gulf of Finland. The COM
munique reported a strong Russian
breakthrough at the Nikopol bridge
head in the Dnieper bend and
southwest of Dnepropetrovsk
The Germans were fighting bitter
ly but apparently were not able to
stand up under the relentless ham
merlng OF the Russian power drive.
Nazis Abandoning Material.
Describing the progress of Gen.
Govorov's veterans, a Moscow war
bulletin said
"Retreating under blows of the
Soviet troops, the enemy is abandon
ing guns, heavy mortars and stores
OF military supplies. The enemy
suffered heavy losses of manpower. -"
In addition to his frontal attack
on kingisepp and other enemy posi-
tlons along the prewar Estonian
border between the Gulf of Finland
and Lake Peipus, 80 miles to the
south, Gen. Govorov sent another
force down the Leningrad-Pskov
Railway toward Luka, capturing
Divinskaya on the way.
Here his spearheads were less
than 81 miles from a junction with
Gen. K. A. Meretskov's Volkhov
front army moving up from the Lake
linen district. This pincers move
ment already has isolated disorpan-
lied groups of Germans in the bleak
lake and forest country to the east,
the communique reported.
Gen. Meretskov was battling de-
termined enemy resistance, the
Russians said, but his men overran
40 towns and villages during yes
terday's advance, including Zaje-
chye, miles from the Luga -Pskov
highway and % miles south of Luga.
Gen. Meretskov apparently was by
passing Batetskaya on the south in
an effort to cut the Leningrad-
Pskov Railway.
The Germans were counterattack-
ing at every opportunity, but were
consistently beaten back with heavy
losses, according TO the Russian war
bulletin. Thirty-six big German
field guns, most. of them in battle
order, fell to the Red Army troops.
SO Towns Recaptured.
Gen. Govorov's troops recovered
a total Of 83 towns and villages yes
terday and wiped out enemy gar
risons holding the strongpoints of
Rozhestveno and Ostrov on the
road to Luga, Moscow reported. One
Soviet unit alone killed more than
900 Germans in the marsh coun-
try below Kingisepp.
At the lower end of the 230-mile-
long northern front Gen. M. M.
Popov's I'd Baltic Army was regis
tering steady gains in its drive to-
ward Latvia from Novosokolniki, the
communique said. Moscow, however,
made no mention of developments
on the Ukraine front, where Berlin
claimed that 10 Soviet infantry divi-
sions and several tank corps were
! wiped out In six-day battle near
VinnitsA.