ENORMOUS ODDS IN TANKS

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

ENORMOUS ODDS IN TANKS

The situation on the southern front is hourly growing more tense, says a message from Moscow this afternoon. Fighting of unparalleled violence is raging day and night. On the Belaya Glina front the Germans all night hurled m mixed forces, which broke through at several points. The official Moscow report last night said: “On August 5 our troops engaged in fierce - fighting at Kletskaya, Kotelnikov (about 90 miles south-west of Stalingrad and 50 miles east of Zymlyanskaya), southward of Belaya Glina, and southward of Kushchevskaya. There was no material change elsewhere.” A supplementary communique says that in the Kotelnikov area the Germans have concentrated large forces and have made a slight advance at heavy cost. Enemy attacks beyond Kushchevskaya, due north of Rostov, were successfully repulsed. Berlin claims the capture of the town of Kropotkin, north-west of Armavir. It has important oil refineries. A German communique states that German and Rumanian divisions are nearing the railway between Yeisk and Tikhoretsk on a broad front, and adds “We stormed and occupied the important railway' junction of Kavkazkaya and reached the Kuban River on a GO-mile front and, north of Armavir, established bridgeheads on the west bank of the Kuban.” Berlin radio claims that a German advance column is within 13 miles of Armavir and another is within 50 miles of Krasnodar. Defenders’ Success. LONDON, August 6. The “Daily Telegraph's” Stockholm correspondent says the Cossacks, in the Kushchevskaya region have smashed back

Southward Flood (By Telegraph.—Press LONDON, August 5. The position of the Soviet army has further worsened in the past 36 hours in all sectors of the southern front except the Don elbow, where the German pressure is also increasing in a further terrific effort to capture all the territory on the right bank of the Don River. Marshal Timoshenko has been forced again to give way before the furious onslaughts of Von Bock’s Panzer armies thrusting toward the Caucasian oilfields. The Germans appear to be driving south in a vast semi-circle with Von Bock possibly aiming at a gigantic encirclement of the Russian forces on the Kuban River, with the Maikop oilfields as the prize. The main battlefield is at present in the Belaka Glinsk area, where every modern weapon has been brought into play in fighting which is increasing in ferocity every, hour. The country hereabouts is ideal for tanks, in which the Germans possess vast numerical superiority. The conditions are also suitable for large-scale paratroop landings, which operations have so far been limited, but some commentators forecast their more widespread employment, particularly against the more important strategic points. Further Break-Through.

General Konrad’s panzers and stopped his motorized units in their tracks with a terrific concentration of artillery and anti-tank fire, and the Russians have checked every German attempt to break through to Tikhoretsskaya, the railway junction 80 miles north-west of Armavir. The most important German success is in the Belaya Glinsk area, .where the enemy is attacking in continuous waves of 50 to 60 tanks. The Russian Air Force is giving no rest to the marauders’ columns which crashed through to the Kuban River, and their bag includes Major-General Julius von Bernuth, chief of staff of an entire panzer army corp®, who was shot down and killed. The large-scale fighting on the Voronezh front has died down. The Germans are working strenuously to strengthen their fortifications and are digging in generally and trying to build up powerful positions. SCORCHED DONETZ (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 5. An indication that the Russian scorched-earth policy is as thorough this eumyner as last is given by a German correspondent, who says: “The Russians blew up every factory in Voroshilovgrad (great Donetz centre), from the largest to the smallest, so completely that repair is out of the question. The same thing applies to the numerous email industrial villages in the Donetz region.” AMERICAN AID LONDON, August 5. A former commander of the United States Army Air Force, Major-General Bradley, has made a 10-day flight from Washington to Moscow with a letter to M. Stalin. He told reporters: "I am here to do all I can to make aid to Russia more effective.” The British Ambassdor, Sir Archibald Clark-Kerr, arrived in Moscow today from Kuibyshev.