Bitter struggle for the Lemberg-Odessa railway.
The focal points of the battle are Swenigorodka, where the Bolsheviks have so far attacked with little success, and Sjepetowka, where the expanding battles over an increasingly wider front are undoubtedly the most significant. Here, a bitter struggle is being fought for the railway connecting Lemberg with Odessa, which serves as the lifeline of the German Army Group South. From the German side, it is not concealed that the opponent has been able to gain ground in their initial assault. However, since the battles are still ongoing and increasing in intensity from day to day, even from hour to hour, the question of whether the Red Army will succeed in achieving its primary objective: the permanent disruption of the Lemberg-Odessa railway connection, is by no means answered. – March 8, 1944
The advancing Red troops from Sjepetofka have thereby interrupted the crucial Odessa-Lemberg railway line. Further distancing movements are underway in the southern sector, and it is yet uncertain where they will end. – March 18, 1944
Between Lemberg and Odessa,
You faced the edge of the knife,
Your Army Group South
Feels melancholy and sadness in heart and soul.
You are gloomy and sorrowful,
As the situation is very dreadful,
The railway was lost,
And thus, the spirit and hope are low.
The hope has faded away,
As the Southern Front struggles to recover,
The lifeblood, the railway,
Was severed quickly and abruptly.
Over Lemberg and Odessa,
Your tears flow freely,
Your hope‘s short-lived illusion,
Depended on this railway.
This was Lemberg and Odessa,
And elsewhere, it won‘t be any better,
For Witebsk and Tarnopol,
Will likely follow soon.
And I would bet on it,
Even with Lithuanians and Latvians,
The time is approaching rapidly,
To liberate them from the yoke.
Though Goebbels may fearfully hide it,
One can feel, it‘s coming to an end,
Quickly with Adolf‘s power and glory,
And with the barbarism.
And whether layperson or professor,
One can see: Lemberg and Odessa,
Are now lost and gone,
And this is just the beginning …
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