World News Today-Russians Look to More than Lifting Siege

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But first, here's John Daly with a summary of headline news that received in New York. It is clear now that the Russians look for more than the lifting of the siege of Stalingrad. They are out to smash the German armies.

Today's noon communique from Moscow announced that the surprise offensive of the Red Army on the central front west of Moscow widened breaches gouged out of the German line and continued its advance against stubborn resistance.

How deep the penetration is was not stated in the noon communique, but a special communique issued earlier announced a breakthrough which isolated the Luka-Luki 280 miles west of Moscow and only 90 miles from the old Latvian frontier.

The statistics of the damage done to the Germans on the central front indicate that the successes before Stalingrad are being repeated. According to the Russians, 300 populated places have been recaptured on a breakthrough 20 miles wide.

Ten thousand Germans have been killed and five Nazi divisions rotted. Perhaps even more important, two vital German supply lines in the area have been cut. One is the East-West rail line running from Moscow to Riga, the other a branch railroad running southwest from Galikaluki to the town of Novell.

The fighting west of Moscow demonstrates beyond all doubt that the Red Army is strong enough to sustain a winter-offensive. The Nazis long ago built a powerful line of fortifications west of Moscow, fortifications that were constructed by Fritz Tott, who built the Siegfried Line to protect the French-German border, and at these fortifications that the Russians have cracked.