Sunday, 19 March

Yesterday the Red Army occupied Zhmerinka. Firstly to cut off the German army in Vinnitsa, secondly to cut off the German main thoroughfare from Odessa to Lwow. Further South the Red Army has already arrived at the Oniester River, and captured Yampol, and from here they can cross the river and go straight into Romania. If Romania cannot hold a defence, the battlefield will be moved West to Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The strength of Germany in the northeast Balkans would then totally disappear, and this would affect the whole war situation. Further South in the area around Nikolaerv, during the past ten days the Red Army has scored a major victory, and the German casualties have been over 50,000. Therefore the Red Army’s recent victories have been really great. The British and American armies could not even capture a small city like Cassino in 7 or 8 months, and the casualties were no more than several thousand. No wonder the Soviet Union was unhappy, and reckoned that Britain and the United States wanted to maintain their strength.