Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-03-13
Soviets Reported
Trying to Expand
Oder Bridgeheod

north of Frankfurt in an attempt
to expand their bridgeheads over
the Oder River, the German
high command said today after
Moscow announced capture of
the east bank fortress of Kues-
trim.
The Nazi command said the Russian
assaults were held, and declared that
the Germans still were fighting
| in the southern fringes of Kuestrin.
SO miles east of Berlin. 16 miles
north of Frankfurt and one of the
| three biggest fortresses guarding
the German capital.
Moscow still had not officially re-
ported any crossings of the Oder,
but dispatches said three Red Army
groups apparently were being dis
| posed for an assault on the German
capital. Kuestrin, churned to
rubble, fell after five days of hand
to-hand battle. the Russians said.
The German communique told of
local breaches by Red Army troops
beating toward Stettin from the
north
Within Sight of Danzig.
The I'd White Russian Army to
the northeast battled within sight
of the church spires of DanZig Part
of the civilian population and mil
itary garrison of Danzig has been
evacuated by sea, Moscow dis
patches said.
But Red Army planes now had
blocked sea escape lanes, and a
Soviet correspondent said "the end
of German divisions trapped on the
Danzig coast is drawing near" Some
accounts said the Germans were
f1eeting in panic.
Farther east, the siege frightened
on Koenigsberg, East Prussian cap
ital. A large portion of the popula-
ton apparently had escaped.
The German garrison of Kuestrin
was believed to have comprised sew
eral battle sections, each made up
of 10 battalions of Infantry and 100
guns. German remnants. chiefly
officers, made a last stand in the
old fort, Moscow said
German Positions Shelled.
Russian guns poured shells across
the Oder into strong German posi-
! tions.
Final mopup Of the city in the
southeast triangle formed by the
confluence of the Warthe River with
the ODER opened up lateral commu-
nications skirting the Oder from
one END OF Marshal Gregory K.
Zhukovs front to the other.
The Germans obviously are litterv
over the prospects that Zhukov may
choose Kuestrin as the site to send
his I'd White Russian Army Group
across the Oder IN strength.
(That rumors were sweeping
the Berlin populace was indi-
Gated by one German broadcast
denying that Soviet airborne
troops had landed near the
capital)
| Field dispatches make it plain
that the Germans have assembled a
great concentration of fighting re-
serves west of the Oder. Mine
fields stretch for miles up and down
the river on the Berlin side. The
big highway and railway bridges at
Kuestrin have been wrecked.
Position Whitfield Down.
A companion battle to his victory
IN kuestrin still is being waged by
Zhukov against another vital enemy
bridgehead which embraces the
eastern outskirts of Stettin. Based
in the three suburbs of Altdamm,
Finkenwalde and Podjuch, this DO
sition, however. is being steadily
Whitfield down by slashing Russian
attacks.
What zhukov is doing along the
Oder is viewed here as plainly pre-
paratory to the next great stage in
the Soviet offensive, but the timing
of that blow, in which it is expected
he will be joined by army groups
commanded by Marshal Ivan S
Konev and Konstantin K. Rokos-
sovsky, has the enemy guessing.
Konevs forces are drawn UP in
strong battle array to the south
east of Berlin, while Rokossovsky' S
group is in the north.