The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-03-08
The Wor On Many Fronts
BY LOUIS F. KEEMLE United Press War EdlOorl

The Red Armys drive In the Ukraine and the Allied air offensive In Europe rolled on unchecked to- day, while in the Pacific American land, air and sea forces hammered at the Japanese over a vast area from the MarShalls to New ouinea.
 British and American bmobers from the west and south kept the nonstop aid war against the e0r- mans at white heat. During the night British four r-motored bombers Mans, no miles southwest of Paris, plastered the raildoal yards at Le while two-engined Mosquitoes went after targets in western Germany.
 The attack on L,e Mans, an im- portant clearing center, apparently was aimed at disrupting German movement of material to the exten- sive anti-invasion defenses in the Brittany Peninsula.
 American flying fortresses of the Mediterranean command hit hard at the port and industrial area of Toulon, on the south French coast. Shipping and dry docks were special targets.
 Lberators hit at four airfields north of Rome and three railway yards around the communication center of Florence in the north.
 Russian Front
 On the Russian front, the first Ukranian army of Marshal Gregory K. Zukov beat back desperate Ger. man counter-attacks and pressed rec lentleSSly on towards the communi- cations network of Lwow in Pc. land.
 As the Russians advanced, they outflanked Tarnopol on the already- severed Lwow-O Odessa railroad and were reported closing in on 1t. Their objective of sealing off 5OO,OOO or more Germans in the southern part or Russia was partly accomplished.
 1T the advance is not checked, the Germans faced the eventual pros pect of being pushed back against the Carpathian Mountains and into Rumania over inadequate secondary railroads and highways, with their supply problem becoming increas. ingly complicated.
 Weather conditions were bad and the Ukranian flatlands were deep In mud from spring thaws. It was Q factor which may tned to slow the Russian advance, but not to stop 1t. Apparently the only thing that could halt 1t would be a successful counter-drive by the Germans.
 Attack In SErenRth
 The latter were making every ef- fort to do SO, but latest dispatches indicated that the Russians were at. tacking in strength along front too wide for the Germans to prevent break throughS at more than local points of the line.
 The southern Italia. front still was partly stalemated by weather, but increasing activity was noted in the Casino sector and at the An. zio beachhead. The Germans there were reported trying to re.group their forces, possibly for e fourth attempt to drive the Allies out, de. spite the heavy losses of their pre-. vious drives.
 In the Pacific, the most specta0 ular American operation was on New Britain, where Marines made a long leap of more than 100 miles along the north coast to Talasea, l70 miles from Rabeul, the Japanese base which Is their main objective.
 American and Australian forces 1 made advances on New Guinea, while the Americans extended their hold on the Admiralty Islands and had Los Negros, air base site, lI1def control.
 To the east, American air forces completed two months of day-by- day bombing with attacks on seven Japanese bases in the Marshall and Caroline Islands. Ponape, Kusaie and Nauru were among the obpec- tives.
 American and Chinese forces In Burma were reported tightening the trap around more than 2,00o Japan csc caught in the Hukawng valley area.