The Wilmington morning star., 1944-04-23
Interpreting
The War
. BY kIRKE L. SIMPSON
Associated Press War sn,I

Except for the final blood,
scenes about sevastopol snsI,;s
the end of the disastrous Ns1,
invasion of southern Russia +hs aN'
was something approaching Inn
in the vast Red Army offensive =.
the east front in Europe tows ",
the week end; but it bods6
good to the foe. 1t obvious1s 10
cred Russian preparations for NV .r
multiple assaults from the o osE
timed to coincide with forthcono Sas,
Anglo-American invasion blows .
the west. "0 'of
The pattern of two such B,,s.;..
attacks is already clear. InvaS; ;al
of the Balkans via Romano ': Avn
the Danube valley south Of + tsl
Carpathians is definitely in nr" ~'
ress. A three-pronged Red Any,. s
conveyance on the Galati gatew.s
to the great Danubian plains tb,.
hold most of the Nazi natura, , sa
supply is traceable on the non VII
North of the mountain ba,risr' s
Russian reak-through via a.
LWow gate into the flat plains a.
central and western Poland worf !,
even more critically affect Ca' '
man military dispositions.
ATTACKS REPELLED
The bulk of the Nazi main fio,.
ing force is deployed on that m ons
vulnerable eastern sector from fl.
Carpathians to the Baltic. Furio,.
German counter attacks We're ~
ported repelled toward the wesl
end IN the southeastern tin of oli
Poland. Berlin claimed recantm.
OF one key rail center, Ottynja nv
StanislaWow Kotomyja line Thu
is near the extreme left flank =,
the Russian front from the PoIsb
Romanian border to Kowel ms,
South of the Pripet marshes Threat,
ening the Lwow barrier to the po
fish plains.
During the week significar,
change in Russia air technique IA
match tn e impending sprns
change over by the Red Army IN,
the offensive defensive To ho
strictly offensive b am e An.
parent. Russian bombers turned IA
a limited form of strategic attac.
well behind the enemy front. Thew
battered at such Romania com.
munication hubs as Constanta, Ga.
lati and others in the south and
at LWow and its vital road and
r ail connections in Southwestern
Poland.
Soviet bombers also ranged into
Latvia on the Baltic flank Of tbe
long eastern front, however, to
hammer at two critical rail June.
tons supporting the German front
north of the Pripet to the Pskov
gateway to Estonis. Coupled with
Moscow announcement of a heavy
Nazi counter attack frustrated on
the Narva isthmus of Estonia, that
Russian air raid points to an i'm.
pending resumption of the Red Ar.
my drive to free the Baltic states
of the foe. The implication is that
the battle for the Pskov gateway
is about to reopen, and that the
Nazi counter attack on he Narya
ishmus was a diversion effort to
disrupt Russian preparations 10
crash the Pskov gateway to the
north at the same time that the
drives above and below the Car.
pathians in the south are renewed.
Premier Stain will not fully
have fulfilled his promise TO his
people to rid all Russia of the foe
until the Nazi hold on tie upper
Dnepr between the Pripet marsh
es and Pskov has been broken
Signs are not lacking that the Rus.
sian army "regrouping" activities
reported by Berlin include prepa.
ratons for concerted drives by
Ukrainian, white Russian and Len
ingrad armies to accomplish that
in the North as it has ALREADY
been achieved in the South.