Evening star., 1945-01-29
Flashes From Red
Guns Reported
Seen in Berlin
MAP on Page A-5.)
By the Associated Press.

IONDON, Jan. Z9.-lne Rus
slams have surrounded the Prus-
sian rail center of Schneidemuhl,
4 miles inside the German bor-
der, a German spokesman an
nounced today. and Swedish
eyewitness reports said flashes
from Soviet guns already could
be seen from Berlin in the night
skies over the eastern battle
front.
German officials were. moving their
offices from the threatened capital
and 20 trains evacuavcc part of the
populace, said a Swet sh national
who had just arrived from Berlin.
Foreign diplomats iere making
preparations to leav T and foreign
correspondents were ordered to de-
part, he said.
Encirclement of jchneidemuhl, a
city of 41,000, cut he main Berlin
Danzig railway at point 1875 miles
northeast of the capital, but directly
east of Berlin German reports
placed the Russians much closer,
about 95 miles.
80-Mile ZhukOv Arc.
Latest official Russian announce
mentS said the Russians were 109
miles to the east, but Moscow dis
patches said it was believed Marshal
Gregory zhukov's tanks had driven
farther ahead and had crossed the
frontier of Brandenburg, the prov
ince of Berlin, at several points.
While Zhukov's front, by official
Moscow report, was spread on an
80-mile arc within 100 miles of
Stettin on the Baltic and II miles
from Frankfurt on the Oder, Rus
sian forces in East Prussia vir-
tually surrounded Konigsberg, regal
capital of the PruSSian military
caste.
(The Konigsberg radio came on
the air six hours late today,
the Federal Communications
Commission reported)
Russian siege artillery poured in
steady stream of fire into that
stronghold, into besieged Breslau,
Silesian bastion on the Oder, and
into Poznan and Torun in Poland
where encircled Nazi suicide garri-
sons were believed on their last
legs
Liquidation Proceeding.
Liquidation of the final fourth
of East Prussia still held by the
Garr,orc uoc y,raoaaS;,,o ~, oIoco
in fighting, while the Dabrowa coal
fields and most of the industrial
centers of Silesia had been overrun
German broadcasts declared
Zhukov's frontal drive on Berlin
had been temporarily stopped in
the last "a hours, but the German
communique told of continued
fighting along the Obra in the from
tier area 95 miles from Berlin.
Berlin military spokesman said
the Russians were attacking along
line from Kreuz, 103 miles north
east of Berlin, to zraszyn, on the
Obra southeast of Berlin, and I'VE
cannot yet speak of coherent front
in the east at all"
In Silesia, the enemy commu-
nique said, the Russians further
enlarged their bridgehead over the
Oder at Steinau, 80 miles northwest
of Breslau. Defenses of Konigsberg
had been penetrated, the Germans
said.
Breslau Attacked From Rear.
Transocean, German news agency,
reported the Russians were assault
ing Breslau from the rear The
agency said that Marshal Ivan
Konevs 1st Ukrainian Army forces,
striking from Ohlau, on the Oder's
west bnak IA miles southeast of
Breslau, now stand at the gates of
Breslau."
All streets into the city of 650,000
have been barricaded, German
front line report declared, and tank
traps multiply hourly
The whole Upper Silesian battle
front was "engulfed in flames" as
the Germans carried out scorched-
earth policy, the account asserted.
Whole towns are being destroyed
and burning towns and villages and
hamlets look like torches"
An eighth Soviet Army joined the
gigantic attack and seized the long
surrounded Baltic port of Memel
yesterday.
Capture of Memel by Gen. Ivan
Bagramian's first Baltic front
brought to perhaps 100000 the
number of Russian troops now on
the march
Premier Stain announced the
clearing of the enemy from the
Southern Silesian area by the cap
ture of Katowice and Beuthen, by
the 1St Ukraine Army, while Mar
(See RTISSTA page A-50