Fall of the Hedgehogs

The measure of Russian might last week was not in spectacular advances, but in the Red Army's sureness in the slow, unspectacular jobs that must precede the next phase of its grand offensive. For the moment the Russians were methodically straightening and tidying their lines.

In the latest Red Army offensive, many German "hedgehog" strong points had been overrun, but many had stood as outposts for a possible Nazi counter-drive. Among them had been Poznan, Torun, Schneidernuehl, Arnswalde, Grudziadz, Breslau. Of these pockets of resistance, only two still stood this week: Grudziadz (on the Polish Corridor approaches to Danzig) and Breslau--and both appeared doomed.

Last week Poznan and Arnswalde fell. Poznan, Poland's fourth city, was a notable victory, even though it was 100 miles behind the front facing Berlin. At Poznan the Red Army reported having killed 25,000 Nazis and captured 23,000. Arnswalde was significant as a guardian outpost of Stettin, 40 miles to the northwest.

On the main front, Marshal Ivan Konev, with the certainty of immense power, slowly extended his advance south of Marshal Georgi Zhukov's grip on the Oder River to form a bulgeless front. By this week their combined front threatening Berlin was 90 miles long--twice as long as it had been two weeks before.

Moscow's guns, with no great single victory to salute, boomed for a collective one: on the Red Army's 27th anniversary Marshal Stalin announced that in the first 40 days of the winter offensive 800,000 Germans had been killed, 350,000 taken prisoner. Proclaimed Stalin: "Full victory . . . is near."

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