TERRIBLE DAYS FOR PEOPLE OF RUSSIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 172, 23 July 1942, Page 5

TERRIBLE DAYS FOR PEOPLE OF RUSSIA

FIGHTING RETREAT

Don Red With German

Blood

United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, July 22

Red Star, the Soviet military journal, says the heavy German drives toward Stalingrad from the west and south are causing Russia to live through terrible days. The Russians are believed to be still falling back to the Lower Don, although they are taking high toll in their fighting retreat. The Germans at Voronezh retain only one of their $our main bridgeheads across the Don, and this is under Russian artillery fire. The Times Stockholm correspondent says the Germans from Voroshilovgrad are hammering incessantly toward Shakhti with massed artillery, tanks, dive-bombers and every available device, including flame throwers. Nothing resembling a break-through has been achieved. The Russians are delivering shrewd counter-blows and inflicting heavy casualties as the Axis tanks and infantry press forward regardless of cost over skilfully-mined and otherwise prepared ground.

Wild reports alleging that Rostov has been already stormed and bridgeheads on the Caucasus mainland established by the Germans from the Crimea can be discounted, although a powerful attempt to cross the Sea of Azov is very likely. Airborne troops and gliders are reported to have been assembled for the attempt to seize Caucasian bridgeheads.

A Moscow message says pressure in the Rostov area is increasing. Massed panzers, after a heavy German artillery barrage and divebombing of the Russian front line, are endeavouring to smash a corridor through the Russian positions. Endless Stream Of Nazi Wounded The Moscow radio says the Germans in the Voronezh area are removing heavy artillery from the east bank to the west bank of the Don. The remnants of three German divisions are continuing defensive battles north-westward of Voronezh. German prisoners have revealed that an endless stream of German wounded is flowing westward from the Voronezh area. The Paris radio declared that Rostov is surrounded and its fall is only a matter of time.

The Times Moscow correspondent reports that a battle of fearful ferocity is still raging between the Don and Voronezh rivers. Confined by the natural bounds to a narrow space, great forces of tanks and infantry are locked closely in a desperate struggle in which the capture of a hamlet is a notable advance. It is a battle for roads, ruined bridges and small groups of suburban houses. Much of the fighting is at close quarters, with trench mortars, machine guns, automatic rifles and bayonets. The Germans are fighting doggedly with their backs to the Don, but are being slowly forced back.

The Moscow journal Pravda says Voronezh city is being cleared literally step by step, and The Times Moscow correspondent adds that strong forces of Soviet tanks and motor infantry, which are using American lorries, are making a largescale advance south from Voronezh.

The Moscow radio declared that despite enormous losses the Germans are throwing in still more tanks in an effort to force the Don crossings. It said: "The waters of the Don are dyed red with the blood of tens of thousands of Germans. The mighty river has already swallowed hundreds of tanks, lorries and carts."