POSITION STILL CRITICAL

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 264, 6 August 1942, Page 5

POSITION STILL CRITICAL

Enigma Of Soviet Strategy ENEMY PROGRESS (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) LONDON, August 5. The position on the south Russian front remains critical. Moscow reports today withdrawals in two areas—at Zymlyanskaya, 150 miles up the Don, where the enemy had been held for many days past, and at Belaya Glina, 100 miles south-east of Rostov. , v i Marshal Timoshenko’s rearguards, with their backs to the Kuban River, last night fought desperate delaying actions before the principal crossings while the main forces prepared to defend the river-line. Ihe resistance in this sector has stiffened, and the speed of the panzer drive has been reduced. , , The Moscow correspondent of “The Times says the result of the °rim, inchoate battle in the Don elbow west of Stalingrad cannot yet be discerned. The main defensive region appears to be at the approaches to one of the Don’s principal crossings, on which several strong tank columns are attempting to converge. Fighting is progressing neai the river bank, and the “Pravda” states that the situation is very serious. The military writer of “The Times” says: . Ihe German claims indicate that the southward advance is continuing with its previous rapidity. The salient begins to look hazardous from the German point of view, but if Timoshenko or Stalin is still waiting with any prospect of dealing an effective counter-stroke he is indulging in one 1 J most extraordinary gambles in military history. Even iiow no means of judging to what extent the retreat is deliberate.