The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-02-15
Konev's Army Runs
 Rampant In Drive
(Continued from Page D

peared to have pulverized the de- lenses of all Silesia, and was report ed flaming out north, west and south less than 100 miles from Ber- lin and about 75 miles from Prague. { For the second straight day Amer ican heavy bombers were reported pounding German strong points be- hind the eastern front in direct support of the Red Army. By night another great fleet of British bomb- CTS hit Chemnitz southwest of Dres- den, Berlin, targets south of Leip- zig, and other points in Germany.
 A United Press dispatch from Moscow said mobile formations of Konevs army, sweeping westward from the border, reached the NeisSe river on a broad front and was threatening GoerlitZ, 56 miles east of Dresden.
 "Konev is encountering growing resistance in Silesia," the dis patch said But he is forging ahead in a three-way drive along the west bank of the Oder toward Frankfurt and Berlin, westward to- ward Dresden and Leipzig within sight of the border of Saxony and to the south behind Breslau."
 Another dispatch said the battle for GoerlitZ was raging, and the town had been flanked, apparently meaning a crossing of the Neisse in that sector.
 A Moscow broadcast reported that after spectacular spurt of 50 miles from Liebnitz Konev's troops were storming the Neisse river line and threatening to crash into Saxony.
 "Konev has smashed through the Oder, and he is entering the battle for Berlin and moving with a rapidity catastrophe for the Ger mans as the Oder line is collapsing and losing every vestige of it's once great importance" the broadcast said.
 Radio Moscow, quoting a front dispatch to the newspaper Pravda, said Soviet mobile formations lad vancing non-stop" across Silesia had emerged on the Neisse river at a point 50 miles west of LiegnitZ.
 That would put Marshal Ivan s. Konev's first Ukrainian army either in the vicinity of GoerlitZ, some 56 miles east of Dresdon, or southeast of Rothenburg at point 58 miles east of Dresden and II miles north of Goerlitz.
 2O-Mile Advance
 The drive to the Neisse, last water barrier before Dresden, carried across the Tschine and Queis rivers and represented an advance of at least 20 miles from last known po- sitions. Last previous Soviet re- ports placed the First Army at the Queis 70 miles northeast of Dres- den, though Nazi broadcast said they were 66 miles away.
 Swedish press dispatches re- ported to the OWI said a large scale compulsory evacuation of east ern Silesia was under way. Long columns of refugees were said to be enroute to Bavaria from Dresden and LeipZig)
 Pravda said the Germans were bringing up all available reserves in a~ atempt to halt the Soviet ad- vance. Most bitter" fighting was said to be under way.
 Other front dispatches said Konev's forces were within sight of the Saxony border, which begins west of Goerlitz. Units of the First Army struck north along the west bark of the flooded Oder river to- ward Frankfurt and Berlin.
 Moscow said Konev's northern columns were nearing a junction with Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's First White Russian army probing the Oder in the vicinity of Fuer- stenberg, 42 miles southeast Of Ber- ] lin.
 NaZi broadcasts acknowledged that Konev's army had broken into Brandenberg. Berlin's home prov ince, and entered Sorau, 79 miles southeast of Berlin.
 The Soviets found Upper Silesian towns in flames. hastily abandoned by Panic-stricken inhabitants. Only individual German soldiers remain ed behind, sniping at Soviet troops from hideouts in ruined cellars.
 The NaziS acknowledged that Konev had completed the encircle- ment of BreSlau. capital of Silesia, and was attempting to forge a sec- ond ring around the city, eighth largest in Germany.
 The Soviet high command report ed the capture of seven major strongholds and more than 200 Wl- lages in Konev's two-pronged ad- vanced toward Berlin and Dresden.
 Hanks BrOadened
 The advances broadened both the northern and southern Hanks of the