Evening star., 1944-07-04
PoIotsk FoIIs;
New Offensive in
Finland Reported
MAP on Page 49,
~ the Associated Press.

Ay the Associated Press.
MOSCOW, July Russian
armies rolled swiftly west Of
captured Minsk today toward
Warsaw and East Prussia, les:
than $50 miles away, while Other
Soviet forces stamped out the
last German defenses in Polotsk
gateway to Latvia and Lithuanis
on the Baltic.
tToday's German communiQue
said PolotSk had been evacuated
and that the Russians had pene-
trated Minsk and pushed ahead
farther west" A spokesman for
the enemy command said Rus
sian vanguards in some places al
ready were nearly 40 miles west
or northwest of Minsk, Slutsk
and Polotsk.
tThe Finnish command said
the Russians had started a new
general offensive on the Karelian
Isthmus between Suomenveden-
pohja and Karisalmi with heavy
artillery, tank and air forces sup
porting the infantryD
After the fall of Minsk. capita
Of White Russia. Polotsk, which ha!
a population of $4,000, was tn,
largest Russian city left in German
hands. The German hold on pre-
war Russia had shrunk to an ares
less than that of Massachusetts.
Captives Increase.
Counting the prisoner bag al
Minsk. the Russian press said cap.
tives in the 12-day offensive tina,
crushed the central front are ex.
pected to swell to between 5000
and $4,000. Two German divi-
sional generals were captured yes
terday, raising to 81 the German
general officers killed or captured ii
three weeks in Russia and France
With the collapse of German de.
fenses at Minsk before two hard.
driving Russian columns. a number
OF important new objeotives lay
ahead for the Red Army steam
roller.
Cutting between the flanks of thu
disorganized Germans and smash.
ing sporadic opposition, the Rus.
slams were battling toward com.
munication lines and border line
cities of the Soviet Baltic republics
and threatening the bulk Of the
Nazi positions on the Russian side
of the western Bug River.
In addition to being less than 15C
miles from the East Prussian from
tier, the Red Army troops were only
80 miles from Daugavpils Dvinsky)
in Southern Latvia; "a miles from
Kaunas, capital of Lithuania, and
only about 1873 from Bialystok Tin old
Poland. important junction on the
Dauga pills -Wilno- Warsaw railway.
Hundreds Rounded Up.
In Minsk, special troops of Gen
Ivan Cherniakhovsky's Bird Army
ana Marshal Konstantin K. Rokos.
sovsky's lst Army rounded up hun
dreds of Germans from cellars ano
atticS, from blasted apartments anC
houses.
With Gen. Cherniakhovsky taking
1926 prisoners between June q
and July l the prisoners in hi:
sector reached 1926. With Marsha
Rokossovsky capturing 1858 on July
ID, his total went to SO, 1888 Officia
announcements emphasized these
figures were only preliminary.
The actual total of these two
armies-not counting Gen. Ivar
Bagramians 1st Baltic Army ane
Gen. Matwei Zakharov's ID White
Russian Army-was 80,844.
The escape route out of Minsl
between the Cherniakhovsky ane
Rokossovsky armies to the NORTH
and south. respectively. was only 81
miles wide and, therefore, it wa.
highly possible that other thou.
sands would be caught before they
could escape to the west.
Fighting in Molodeczno.
DlSpatCneS reported hard nghtlne
In the streets of Molodeczne
fMolodechno). 40 miles northwes,
of Minsk.
Russian tanks and machine gun.
ners fought in the outskirts of the
city. driving the Germans westward
toward Wilno. The German gar.
rison is running a dangerous risl
OF encirclement
In Southern White Russia Marsha
Rokossovsky's left flank has reached
Moroch, railway town deep in tn,
Pripet Marshes. and is forming 6
semicircle threatening Baranowicze
In the first IL days of the west.
vard-surging offensive, the Sovie
troops have plunged forward som'
$50 miles-nearly one-fourth tn,
distance to Berlin. Official an
nouncements have reported abou
225 900 Germans killed or captured
(See RUSSIA. Page A-3D