German to English translation of 'vorwärtsreißen'?

[Linden Lyons]

In his diary on 5 August 1941 Halder quoted Hitler speaking with Brauchitsch. I am interested in the following sentence:

Panzergruppe 3 müsse die Waldaihöhe nehmen und dadurch den linken Flügel der Heeresgruppe Mitte vorwärtsreißen.

What is the best translation of 'vorwärtsreißen' in this context? Does it mean:

- an extension of the left wing of Army Group Centre?
- the separation of the left wing from the army group?
- something else?

[Prosper Vandenbroucke]

I think the best tranlation of this sentence is:
The "Panzergruppe" 3 must take the "Waldaihöhe and because of it must cross the left wing of the "Heeresgruppe mitte".
Sorry for my poor english
Kindly regards from Belgium
Prosper

[clausewitz12345]

The "Panzergruppe 3" would have to take the "Waldaihöhe" and as a consequense of that action carry the left wing of the "Heeresgruppe Mitte" forward.

Regards
Claus

[StefanSiverud]

As clausewitz12345 said, here's the translation: Panzergruppe 3 must capture the Waldai height and thereby push the left flank of Heeresgruppe Mitte forward.

[Heimatschuss]

Hello,

the major part of the work has already been done but I'd like to suggest a minor improvement:

Waldaihöhe (in German also often in the plural form Waldaihöhen) should be translated a Valdai plateau. It's a stretch of higher ground measuring 370 kilometers SW to NE and 90 kilometers NW to SE (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldaih%C3%B6hen). A simple verbatim translation as Valdai height would give readers a wrong impression of its' dimensions.

Best regards
Torsten

[Urmel]

The "Panzergruppe 3" would have to take the "Waldaihöhe" and as a consequense of that action carry the left wing of the "Heeresgruppe Mitte" forward.

Regards
Claus

This is closest, but doesn't quite get the tone of the German right. My proposal would be:

The "Panzergruppe 3" would have to take the Valdai Plateau and thereby drag the left wing of the "Heeresgruppe Mitte" forward.


To me the instruction implies that the left wing of HG Mitte wasn't advancing as expected, and the intended action of Panzergruppe 3 was to have a violent effect on the left wing of HG Mitte, almost involuntarily making it go along with the move of Panzergruppe 3. 'Reissen' is quite a dramatic term in this context - it normally would be translated as 'to rip [something] off or upwards' (abreissen/hochreissen).