The Wilmington morning star., 1945-02-10
|Nazis Admit
New Breaches
In Oder Line
Several Russian Armies
Reported Driving On
Liegnitz

London, Saturday, req. w.
The Red Army swept to WITHIN
% miles of Berlins Baltic port
of Stettin yesterday in It's swirl
drive to seal off all northeastern
Germany, and the enemy ANNOUNCE
ed that a new gigantic SOVIET
southern offensive had deeply OUT
thanked Breslau by rolling 80 miles
west OF that Silesian capital.
On the Berlin front, the Russians
were said by the Germans to have
crossed the Oder and cut direct
north-south communications pc
tween Kuestrin, Frankfurt and
Fuerstenberg at points within 80
miles of imperilled Berlin. These
three fortresses are Berlln's major
shields and the Russians were
trying to encircle them.
German broadcasts said that sew
eral Russian armies had been
hurled into the swelling Slleslan
drive that sent Soviet spearhesHs
to the edge of Liegnitz, big transit
center and manufacturing city OF
10000 astride the direct Berlin
Breslau communication lines.
Breslau's garrison on the upper
Oder IS miles east of Liegnitz was
threatened with imminent enclr-
clement, only 32-mile gap still
being left open west Of the city.
The Russians simultaneously were
threatening to break open the door
into German Saxony in a WIDE
thanking move through Liegnitz,
which is 1876 miles southeast OF Ber-
lin.
In East Prussia the Russians
drove new spearheads to the Baltic
coast and surrounded the harbor
city of Elbing, between Koenigs-
berg and Danzig territory, thus
dimming further the escape posi-
bilities of the remnants of 200, 900
to $50, Germans originally trap
ped in a pocket below Koenigsberg.
While the Germans said the
heaviest fighting on the Eastern
Front was in Pomerania and
Silesia, they also gave further de-
tails of the grueling struggle along
the Oder due east of the capital.
The Russians were disclosed to
have built a bridgehead on the
rivers west bank at Lebus, five
miles north of Frankfurt, cutting
direct lines between that fortress
and Kuestrin.
South of Frankfurt other Soviet
units which recently crossed the
river were said to have cut lines
between there and Fuerstenberg.
The Russians also were fighting in
the outskirts of Frankfurt's east
ern suburbs of Damn after
whiting down the slender Nazi
holdings on the east bank.
One German broadcast also told
of new Soviet penetration to the
Oder opposite Schwedt, SO miles
northwest of besieged Kuestrin,
and said the Russians apparently
intended to try to cross the Oder
in that area As miles northeast of
Berlin.
Moscow dispatches said Marshal
Zhukov's First White Russian
Army was laying down one Of the
heaviest artillery barrages Of the
war on German lines between the
Oder and Berlin. The Soviet COM
munique, however, did not mention
this sector where the Germans say
the Russians have multiple bridge
heads across the river 80 to 43
miles from the capital.
Enemy broadcasts said a terrific
battle ragged Immediately west Of
Kuestrin, where the Germans
were fighting desperately to keep
the Russians from encircling that
stronghold 16 miles north Of Frank
furt. Counterattacks thus far have
kept open a corridor to Kuestrin,
Berlin said.
Attacking on a 30-mile front in
Pomerania, northeast OF Berlin,
the Russians rolled within ten
miles southeast of Stargard. big
center on the Stet-
railway and highway,
with the capture Of Brallentin, 20
miles from Stettin.
The Russians gained up to II
miles in their swift move to reach
Stettin and seal off thousands Of
German troops in Pomerania in a
similar to their recent
of 20 to 25 Nazi di.
visions in East Prussia.
Moscow dispatches said there
similar number of divisions IN
POI serania, the Polish Corridor
and Danzig, a 13,500-square-mile