The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-18
EorIy Berlin FoII Hinted
tcontInued from Page D


 North of VlStula, where Marshal K. Rokossovsky's Second White Russian Army was striking, Berlin said the Russians threw In reinforcements and expanded their "penetrations to the west and to the north"
 On the fifth day of the defensive battle in the East Prussian border area, our formations achieved new defensive successes against an on- slaught of 35 Soviet infantry divi- sions backed by numerous tank bri- gades," the Berlin communique said.
 On the opposite wing of the of- fensive, drive still unreported by Moscow was, by Berlin account, pressing in against the transport center of Nowy Sacz, 45 miles south- east of Krakow and Is miles above the Slovak frontier
 Between Slovakia and the upper reaches of the Vistula, our troops disengaged themselves to the west" !" the Berlin command said.
 The liberation of Warsaw fore shadows the early fall of Berlin, Ilya Ehrenbourg, authoritative So- viet. writer, said in a ringing article on the record Red Army offensive shredding the German defenses of all Poland.
 No matter what city We take, we think only of one. We think of the capital whether we are tearing with all our souls, and coming soon, too. Dead Warsaw will rise. Berlin is alive, but won't live much longer
 Reds Unchecked
 Triumphant proclamations from Moscow and a clamor of dark dis aster from Berlin indicated the Red Armies were sWarming unchecked across Poland and at least pre- pairing to open the battle of Ger many in the east.
 The Nazis acknowledged the loss of Tomaszow Mazowiecki, major transport junction 20 miles south- east of Lodz Poland'S second larg- est city on which the Russians ap- parently were converging from the east and south.
 Berlin also admitted the fall of C2estochowa, Polish shrine city l4 miles from the German border, the capture of which the Red Army had announced yesterday.
 Today's Moscow broadcast by a British commentator there said that when KoneV captured CzestochoWa he stood only l4 miles from the bor- der and by now he might be across 1t.
 The Germans utterly failed to stem the Soviet offensive" the broadcast said "In l2 hours the position along the front will be quite different. From the German point of view 1t will be much worse" "
 Indicative of the fury of the Red Army winter campaign, the German DNB news agency said to- day that in five days the Russians lost 003 tanks.
 United Press Corresondent Henry Shapiro said in Moscow dispatch:
 "T'he opinion prevails among mill tary and diplomatic observers that this Is the decisive offensive, and will not be halted at least until the Russians have penetrated deep into Reich territory. Some observers question the enemy's ability to make an impressive stand before the Oder" which at It's nearest point flows 30 miles from Berlin.
 The dispatch said that Warsaw's German garrison was killed or cap- tured when the capital fell yester- day. At least two German divisions were smashed in brief battle in- side the city. Soviet and Polish battalions made short shrift of enemy units making q hopeless stand In the ruins of the city and pillboxes astrlde It's street cross- ingS,
 The entire German defense line In Poland buckled and broke before 'the Soviet onrush as three Russian armies numbering almost 2,500, ,000 men struck westward in 6 mighty offensive that dWarfed any of their previous winter drives.
 Critical Phase
 Berlin spokesmen admitted som- bcrly that the week -old Russian onslaught had brought the war in the east to a critical phase and it was indicated that only 6 masterly retreat could save the German arm les from Q military disaster Of the first magnitude.
 on the southern wing of the 225- mile attack front, one Red Army Spearhead drove to within l4 miles Of German Silesia by night-fall yesterday and may already have crossed into the Nazi homeland at q point little more than 30 miles from the Oder.
 The German lines also gave way at the center, where the ruins ol Warsaw were liberated and Lodz Poland's second city, was irnperrilled while in the north Q third Red Army advanced at mile-an- -hour pace toward Danzig in looping drive aimed at enveloping all Of East Prussia.
 German losses were running into the thousands daily as the battle swayed back to the borders Of tn( Reich and Moscow communicate said mountains of enemy materia were captured yesterday. Berir commentators acknowledged indi. rectly that large Nazi forces hae been cut off by the sudden break through, asserting that many unit, still were fighting far behind the advanced Russian spearheads.
 Martin HallenSleben, military analyst for the NaZ DNB News Agency, warned the German peo- pie that there is mo chance' oi stemming the Red Army tide front ally because Of the SoViets' suped- ority in men and equipment, and that "other measures" must be talk en.
 "This Is an all-out attempt tc blast open our eastern front and disintegrate it," he said.
 Adolf Hitlers own newspaper, the VolElscher Beobachter, took an equally sober view.
 'It is not possible to crush the