BITTER RETREAT

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 265, 7 August 1942, Page 5

BITTER RETREAT

Caucasus Reserves Mystery WIDENED PERIL LONDON, August 6. Stalingrad, the great manufacturing centre on the Volga, is now threatened from the south-west by a dangerous new German thrust. Panzer forces have advanced 50 miles toward, the city frdm Zymlyanskaya, on the lower Don, and the Red Star reports a big tank battle near the railway at a point about 95 miles from the city. North-west of Stalingrad there has been a terrific tank battle in which the Germans were forced to withdraw. The position in the Caucasus is still critical and confused. Desperate fighting is going on over 100 miles south-east of Rostov, and there the “Red Star” says the Germans have captured several Russian defence lines. The Germans claim the continuance of thrusts far south of that position. Directly south of Rostov the Germans are again being held. ~ . The Moscow correspondent of ‘‘The Times emphasizes that both the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus are endangered and says the enemy possesses overwhelming tank superiority in the Kuban sectors. Tanks are rarely mentioned in the Russian reports. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times asks: Where are Timoshenko’s main Caucasian forces? He says Timoshenko had upwards of 500,000 heavily equipped troops m the Donetz Basin and Rostov area, and the greater part of these crossed the Don River. There are no signs of them in the approaches of the western or eastern Caucasian foothills, and there is nothing to in 1cate that a firm stand will be taken along the Kuban River.