DON LINE GIVES

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 258, 30 July 1942, Page 5

DON LINE GIVES

Battle Of North Caucasus DRIVE ON STEPPE LONDON, July 29. The German threat to the Russian positions on and beyond the River Don has grown even more serious during the last hours. . , The enemy have made further crossings of the river and widened the existing bridgeheads, and are battering t eir wa Y forward, bringing up vast numbers of men and tanks, sout an south-east of Rostov and south of Zymlyanskaya, mi es up TlVer “This is the darkest moment since November when the Germans were attempting to close their pincers roun . oscow, says the “Daily Telegraphs” correspondent in the Soviet capital. “The Germans were routed in November, but it was then winter. Now, at the height of summer, the enemy is driving across the treeless plains toward Russia’s industrial and oil hinterlands and toward the Volga, her greatest water artery.

The “Daily Mail’s” Stockholm correspondent says that Soviet sources estimate that almost. 1,000,000 Germans are pouring forward between Rostov and the Don bend. The greatest immediate danger is south of Rostov, where the Germans are driving hard down the Rostov-Baku railway. “Field-Marshal von Bock, Hitler s killer general, has paid a price on the Don,” says the Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Express.” ‘‘Thousands of the elite troops are dead on its banks, and thousands of war machines lie mangled on the river front, but in at feast three places the great river is no longer a barrier.” The threat to the Caucasus is now grave. The Germans claun they have crossed the Don on a' broad front east of Rostov and also crossed the Sal River and reached the Manych River. Moscow radio admits that the Germans have forced the Don and are "moving ahead toward the last railway between South Russia and the rest of the country.” Besides the crossing they effected at Zymlyanskaya, the Germans are stated to have crossed at ' Nelikhovskaya, north-east of Rostov, and perhaps also at two other places.

The “Red Star”, states that, the German forces in the drive south of the Don are “many times superior,” which suggests that Marshal Timoshenko is even yet withholding the bulk of his reserves.

The huge German concentration driving toward Stalingrad is reported to be slowing down after sustaining very heavy losses, awaiting reinforcements.

The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says the enemy is having the greatest difficulty in establishing pontoon bridges across the Don, without which only infantry and light artillery are able to reach the south bank. Scores of bridges have been smashed by the Russian planes and artillery. The Russians in one area found the Germans concentrating tanks and infantry in scrub on the river's bank, obviously for a night crossing. A Russian battalion took up a position unobserved, and when the pontoon bridge was crowded with men and machines swinging across the river, searchlights were switched on, the artillery opened up and automatic rifles r.iked the pontoons. No Germans reached the south bank. Huge Grain Losses. The fall of Rostov will have repercussions of every kind throughout the Caucasus, for which Rostov served as an outlet to Russia. Rostov’s position at the head of the railway to Baku and also commanding the navigation of the Sea of Azov and the Don makes it a commercial pivot for a wide area, and the importance of the loss cannot be exaggerated. The Germans are now massing for an advance into the Kuban Steppes, where the large and highly-productive State farms are busy with the harvest, which promises to be exceptionally bounteous. The grain losses have been already great. Most of the Don corn was too green to be destroyed. The Don Basin produced more than 60 per cent, of the Soviet Union’s grain. There is no disposition in Moscow to under-estimate the gravity of Marshal Timoshenko’s position. All the Moscow morning papers printed a warning to the nation. “The enemy is surging ever closer to four of our most vital life centres,” they say. “The Fatherland is in grave danger.” Last, night’s Soviet communique reported that battles took place yesterday in the areas of Voronezh, Zymlyanskaya and Bataisk (10 miles south of Rostov). It is reported that at Voronezh the Russians broke through the German defences at. one point. The Moscow correspondent of ‘The Times” says the Russians slightly improved their position at Voronezh last night. Large-scale battles are in progress on the west bank of the Don. The Germans still hold a good deal of the district between the Don and Voronezh rivers south of the city, but they are not getting the opportunity to dig in. They are strongly fortifying the central sector. Vichy radio quotes claims from Berlin that, south of Rostov, the Germans have captured Pavlovsk and surrounded Krasnodar. No other sources mention these claims. The Germans claimed an advance eastward from Bataisk and also from Olginskaya, which is 20 miles southeast of Bataisk.

A German communique yesterday stated that allied’ troops had crossed the whole of the lower Don. Moscow radio announced that the Russian Arctic Fleet Air Arm sank three large transports and set fire to warehouses at a northern enemy port. The radio also announced that more German divisions from France and Holland were arriving on the Russian southern front.