Current Events October 25, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY OCTOBER 25, 1943:

Germany faced one of her great crises last night as unstoppable Russian hordes which had smashed
the gate to the Crimea at Melitopol poured through onto the Nogaisk steppe, while equally relentless Red
Armies drove ahead in the Dnieper Bend in a vast encircling movement which threatened possibly a million
Nazi troops. The most desperate German counterattacks of the war were unavailing in both sectors.

Britain's Eighth Army, personally led by Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery, smashed forward in a surprise attack along the Adriatic front yesterday, thrusting forward five to six miles and breaching strong enemy positions at one point along the Trigno River

Escorted for the first time by three types of Allied fighters, including the powerful P38 Lightnings, U.S.
Marauder medium bombers raced 60 miles into France yesterday to attack two Nazi interceptor fields and a
bomber base


            


              THE STARS AND STRIPES 
               Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces  in the European Theater of Operations
                       New York, N.Y.—London, England Monday, Oct. 25, 1943

Melitopol Falls; Dnieper Ring Tightens
Reds Drive to Sever
Crimea Escape Line;
Big Battles in 'Bend'
Berlin is Fearsome
As Trap Develops
In the South
Germany faced one of her great crises last night as unstoppable Russian hordes which had smashed
the gate to the Crimea at Melitopol poured through onto the Nogaisk steppe, while equally relentless Red
Armies drove ahead in the Dnieper Bend in a vast encircling movement which threatened possibly a million
Nazi troops. The most desperate German counterattacks of the war were unavailing in both sectors.
Masses of tanks and infantry were hurled in waves against the Russians driving for Krivoi Rog in the Dnieper
Bend, but last night Soviet forces were within 15 miles of this great communications and steel center, next big objective of the offensive that followed the Kremenchug breakthrough.
Twenty victory' salvos from 224 guns electrified Moscow again with announcement of the fall of Melitopol after fighting as fierce as anything seen at Stalingrad.
                                                       Dire Peril for Crimea
Last night the Russians revealed that the Red Army there was advancing west of the city toward the Nogaisk steppe, adding to the dire peril of German troops in the Crimea, whose only escape lies along the railway through Kherson. And there was no enemy defense line between Melitopol and Kherson to stop or slow the Russians.
North of Melitopol, another Soviet column was driving ahead. This force evidently had turned northward and was heading for the main Dnieper River front, just one more of a many-pronged Russian offensive giving the German High Command chills.

Eighth Catches c5
Nazis Off Guard
By New Attack
Enemy Rolled Back Five
Miles; Fifth Seizes
Valuable Junction
Britain's Eighth Army, personally led by Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery, smashed forward in a surprise attack along the Adriatic front yesterday, thrusting forward five to six miles and breaching strong enemy positions at one point along the Trigno River.
While the Fifth Army hammered at German mountain positions along the upper Volturno and captured the road junction of Baia Latina, four miles northwest of Dragoni, the Eighth rolled the enemy back along the right flank, seized Lucita, 11 miles north of Campobasso, and occupied the Adriatic town of Montenero,
five miles northwest of Montecilfone.
British and, Canadian troops of Gen. Montgomery's Eighth fought uphill to take Camppchiari, five miles west southwest of Vinchiaturo, and thus command the only road leading from Vinchiaturo north and west into the heart of the German mountain positions.
The Fifth Army's advance toward Venafro continued along both banks of the upper Volturno in spite of stubborn German resistance backed up by strong mortar and machine-gun fire from well camouflaged positions in the mountain heights.
Activity was "fairly static" along the Fifth's coastal flank, but many miles behind that front Allied bombers struck hard at big coastal batteries in the Gaeta area. 35 miles north of Naples.
Fighter bombers from Italian bases roared all over the German lines in one of the most concentrated attacks of the campaign. Major targets were railway bridges two miles south of Venturno, at Marchiano near Perugia, and at Mamalto di Castro, on the west coast railway, north of Rome.

 U.S. Fighters
Escort B26s
On Big Raid
P38s, P47s~Help Cover
One of Heaviest Attacks
On 3 Airfields
Escorted for the first time by three types of Allied fighters, including the powerful P38 Lightnings, U.S.
Marauder medium bombers raced 60 miles into France yesterday to attack two Nazi interceptor fields and a
bomber base.
The Marauder attacks followed the heavy RAF bombardment of targets at Kassel, Germany, over the weekend in which more than 1,500 tons of high explosives and incendiary bombs were dropped on the German armament and enginering center.
The B26 Marauders, also accompanied by P47 Thunderbolts and Royal Air Force Spitfires, bombed Nazi fighter bases at Beauvais-Niviliers and St. Andre- e- Le'Eure artB a bomber base at Montdidier.
The latter blow was seen as a possible counter stroke to the Luftwaffe's
recent night bombings of Britain.
Direct hits on runways, dispersal areas and barracks at the Luftwaffe bases were
reported by crew members. The Marauder force, one of the largest ever employed by the USAAF in this theater, made thedeepest B26 penetration into Germanoccupied Europe through heavy fighter opposition. All of the bombers returned safely.
                                                                No Marauders Lost
Three enemy aircraft were destroyed in aerial combat by the Marauders and seven by the Spitfires. None of the attacking Marauders was lost in the operation and only one fighter—a Spitfire—failed to return.