Evening star., 1944-04-06
Reds Push Into Odessa Suburbs
As Three-Sided Drive Increases
Peril to Trapped German Forces
Russian Units
9 Miles From
Heart of City
BY EDDY GILMORE,


Associated Press War Correspondent.
MOSCOW, April 6.-Russiar
storm troops pushed into thu
outlying suburbs of Odessa today
and the roar of battle echoed
throughout the city.
Gen. Rodion Y. MalinovSky's cav
airy and light tanks drove on thu
great Black Sea port from three di'
rections, front-line dispatches said
advancing from positions which las
night were only miles from the
heart of the metropolis.
The right flank of Gen. Malinov.
sky's Sd Ukrainian Army pushed
through the quagmires west of the
city heading for the Odessa -Ovido-
pol spur railWay-the last remain
ing escape route to Rumania for the
defenders of Odessa, the dispatches
added.
Main Escape Route Cut.
Even if the trapped Germans and
Rumanians succeed in reaching
Ovidopol they must still make the
hazardous. trip by ferry to Akker-
man and thence by a winding
single track railway to Rumania.
Gen. Malinovsky's cavalry and
tanks had cut off the main escape
route to Rumania by capturing
Razdelnaya, 38 miles northwest of
Odessa. and then pressing south
westward to take Strassburg, whicn
commands side road from Odessa
to Tiraspol on the lower Dniester
River.
If previous German practice has
been followed, commanders of the
Axis forces in the Odessa area
probably have already deserted
their men and equipment and have
been taken out by ship and plane.
Four Drives Aimed at City.
Four Red Army pushes are being
aimed at the heart of Odessa, but
the units which are closest to the
city appear to be advancing down
the banks of Lake Kuialnitzki from
the captured rail station of Ku-
banka, IA miles away.
A Red Star dispatch said recent
heavy rains have complicated
ground conditions, but that Gen.
Malinovsky's cavalry and light tanks
are solving that problem. 1t re-
ported that "big forces" of Ger
mans arc tied up in the direction of
Odessa and that violent fighting"
is raging on the approaches to the
city.
Northwest of Odessa, where the
Russians have encircled German
and Rumanian groups in the Skala
area and in the city of Tarnopol,
the battle for their determination
has reached new fury with the end
of the blizzard which has been
sweeping Southern Russia for three
days and nights.
1000 Germans Killed.
A dispatch from Mai. Mikhail
Mikhailov to Red Star said the Ger
mans lost 1000 dead and 20 tanks
in their first big attempt to break
out of the Skala trap to the west
and north yesterday, and second
effort cost them even more dead.
The Russians were said to be
seizing one street after another in
Tarnopol, killing large number
of Germans, while others threw
down their arms.
At Skala, Junkers transport
planes were reported making nu-
merous trips in attempts to evacu-
ate Nazis trapped in that sector
west of Kamenets-Podolsk, Maj
Mikhailov's dispatch said, and II
Of them have been shot down ir
the last "a hours.
AS Gen. Malinovsky's army fought
In the suburbs of Odessa, front dis
patches indicated the Germans al
ready were trying to escape the Jaws
of Soviet pincers by fleeing across
the Dniester estuary 20 miles to the
west into lower Bessarabia.
Red Fleet Standing Offshore.
Moscow advices received in Lon.
don said the Nazi line of retreat wa.
being Systematically attacked by the
Red Army Air Force and that unit.
of the Russian Black Sea feet were
standing offshore ready to join il
the bombardment.
In all, the Sd Ukrainian Arm,
swept up more than l30 towns ant
villages yesterday in its drive dow
the South Russian Steppe country
Moscow reports to London again
failed to mention the progress o
Marshal Ivan S. Konev's I'd Ukrain
ian Army, last reported within
miles Of Iasi (Jassy), across tn
Prut River in Rumania proper.
The German high command sait
today the German garrison o
Kovel, 100 miles above LwoW, in oil,
Poland, had broken a 20-day Rus
sian encirclement of the city witt
the aid of transport gliders.
Previously, Russian communique
had placed the Red Army column
within 80 miles Of that Warsaw
Kiev rail line junction, but ha
never claimed its encirclement.
Counterattacks Repulsed.
In a drive on Kishinev, capita
of Bessarabia, northwest of TiraS
pol the Russians said they cap
tured Tutslenny, "a miles to tn
north, and 80 other towns, after re
pulsing series of fierce German
counterattacks.
British military experts expresse
the opinion today that Rumania'
days as an effective fighting poWe
were collapsing under the combine
onslaught of Russian armies an
Allied bombers.
Analyzing the collapse of the Ger
man armies before the present Rus
sian offensive, an Associated Pres
correspondent in Moscow said tn
powerful, Slashing attacks of tn
Soviet forces completely wrecked tn
Nazi system of communications anc
with regular precision" separate
large armies from one another.
These swift advances, the CORE
spondent said, caused one of tn
greatest confusions in modern war
fare"