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DAY AND NIGHT DUEL
OF FIRE
Nazis Abandon
More Ground
BATTLE FORVISTULA
LONDON, August 4 (A.A.P.).
The battle of the Vistula has de
veloped into a day and night duel of
fire, which is scorching hundreds of
miles of river banks as the Germans
mass forces to prevent the new Soviet
crossings.
Reuter's Moscow correspondent says, the
Germans are using six and ten-barrelled
mortars in addition to artillery, but. they are
being forced to abandon more and more areias
on the west bank by the non-stop. Soviet air
attacks.
The heavy fighting on the East Prussian
border is reaching a new peak of ferocity as
. both sides bring up reinforcements.
Artillery duels are occurring across the
, border zone, and swirling air battles are being
fought over German soil as the Luttwaffe tries
to slow down the Soviet advance.
An army of painters is work
ing day and night on the Ger
man side of the border camou
flaging East Prussia against air
attack, while an army of slave
laborers is digging new lines and
fortifications.
Moscow Radio, quoting the
Moscow . newspaper "Izvestia,"
announced to.-day: "The Rus
sians have riot "yet set a foot on
East Prussian soil., but we know
what is taking place there."
In southern Poland Russian
troops are 65 miles beyond Cra
cow, and 100 miles from the
frontier of German Silesia.
The Russians apparently have
three bridgeheads across the Vis
tula, viz., south of Warsaw, which
Berlin Radio has admitted, at
Deblin, and at Barow, where the
Vistula ... and San rivers meet.
| \ ,io last night an-
n(_ „ advanced German
positions south-east of Warsaw -
have been withdrawn. .
A German military comments-
tor, speaking over Berlin ' Radio,
said the Russians are' continuing
their direct thrust west of Barow,
still - in a westerly direction, and
were . thereby beginning to by
pass Warsaw. Barow is 110 miles
south of Warsaw and 55 miles
north of Rzeszow, which is the
farthest point of penetration that
the Russians have yet claimed.
The Moscow communique sta
ted that on Thursday the Rus
sians forced a crossing of the Vis
tula south-west of Sandomierz,
115- miles south of Warsaw, and
captured a bridgehead on the west
bank nearly 20 miles wide and 15
miles wide. Sanok, an ancient
fortress town in the Carpathian
foothills on the west bank of the
San River, was among the '595
places captured.
Another Wedge
The German High Command
announced over Berlin Radio that
the Russians have assembled
strong forces at the confluence of
the Vistula and San rivers. They
have pushed a narrow wedge for
ward as far as Staszow, 20 miles
west of the Vistula.
A map published in Moscow on
Thursday shows the Red Army to
be at least ten miles from the
East Prussian border.
The Stockholm correspondent
of the American Associated Press
reports - that the Russians are
sending speed boats, torpedoes
and mines in trucks to Dubultl,
on the Gulf of Riga, in pre
paration for the bottling up of
the Baltic.. Sea escape route for
the Germans entrapped in the
Baltic States.
A Polish underground represen
tative who has arrived in Lon-
don is quoted by the Exchange
Telegraph Agency as saying that
the Germans are converting the
centre of Warsaw into a series
of strongpoints. '
The German ' News Agency's
commentator, von Hammer, de
scribed the fighting inside- War
saw as attempts by guerilla bands
to carry out sabotage.
"Himmler's Own" are fighting
before Warsaw. The German
Overseas News Agency revealed
tills when describing the nature
of the reserve regiments which
have been brought up to defend
the Polish capital. It said:—
"Young German regiments, after
several months' training in the
reserve army, have been sent to
the front. This is one of the
measures taken by Reichsfuhrer
Himmler in his capacity as com
mander in chief of the home
army."
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