REDS FORCED BACK IN ELBOW OF DON

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 173, 24 July 1942, Page 5

REDS FORCED BACK IN ELBOW OF DON

BATTLE OF ROSTOV Preparing: For Big Stand West Of Stalingrad U.P.A. and British Wireless. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, July 23. The battle for the City of Rostov has begun. The German communique says Axis troops have pierced the Russian fortified positions and reached the outskirts of the city. Announcing that after reaching the outskirts of Rostov, Axis motorised forces are still advancing eastward, the German official news agency added that the battle for Rostov is being fought in torrid heat. The Moscow communique says Russian troops in the Novocherkask area, 20 miles north-east of Rostov, are wearing down the enemy and inflicting heavy losses. Desultory artillery duels and patrol activities are going on along the Kalinin front. Two Soviet parties routed German garrisons at two points, and a Russian unit penetrated the enemy rear, where it derailed ten trains. Russian artillerymen on the Leningrad front directly hit a group of Finns, killing several hundred. Russians on Lower Don It is assumed that the Russian forces in the south are now generally in position along the west bank of the Don about half-way between Stalingrad and Rostov to the Sea of Azov. On the right bank the Russians hold semi-circular positions round Rostov, probably about 20 to 30 miles from the city. There may also be other Russian forces still on the right bank between Tsymlyanskaya and the confluence of the Donetz. In the direction of Stalingrad the Germans apparently are still driving eastwards into the elbow of the Don, but there Is no evidence that they have yet occupied all the around inside the bend. Above the bend the Russians appear to hold the left bank all the way on to the Voronezh region, where the Germans are believed to hold only one of the four bridgeheads they originally established. A Soviet headquarters report states that the Russians in the Novccherkask sector have retreated to new positions. Offensive operations have been continued at Voronezh, where the Russians have captured a place on the main railway line, after overcoming stubborn resistance and inflicting enormous losses on the enemy. ~ , The Vichy radio, quoting a Stockholm report, says a massive German attack against Stalingrad, the tank and industrial centre on the Volga, has already begun, and the Russians are withdrawing to the east bank of the Don, 40 miles to the west, to strengthen the defences of Stalingrad, and are burning the bridges behind them. , , , Although the Germans claim that the Russians north-westward of Voronezh have been repulsed, the Moscow journal Izvestia states that th« Russians are clearing up the east bank of the Don ana pushing the Germans back still further. The Moscow radio says the Germans who infiltrated Into the Voronezh town area are now attempting to withdraw. Flare-up at Leningrad The Moscow radio reports that fighting has flared up on the Leningrad front. The Russians repulsed counter-attacks and recaptured in a surprise attack a vital settlement near the city. Over 1000 Germans were killed.

In a local engagement on the Leningrad front, the Russians took an important height and held it against German counter-attacks. .. The Vichy radio says that Marshal Voroshiloff has been recalled from North Russia to command the new defence line protecting the Stalin-grad-Caucasus railway, which runs from Stalingrad to Krasnodar and Novorossisk, the naval base on the Black Sea.