SUPREME EFFORT BY BOTH SIDES

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 281, 26 August 1942, Page 5

SUPREME EFFORT BY BOTH SIDES

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.)

(Received August 25, 11.10 p.m.) LONDON, August 24. A very grave view of the Stalingrad situation seems to be justified by reports from Moscow and Stockholm. The Axis forces, regardless of the cost, are advancing, consolidating, and gradually closing Stalingrad and the Volga in an iron grip. If the Russians now succeed in beating off the German pincers groping toward Stalingrad from the south and south-west, the Russians will have achieved a surprising feat of arms. Russian forces, specially under Marshal Timoshenko, are always unbeaten till the last, but the outlook at Stalingrad is most disquieting. Moscow radio tonight issued a warning that the loss of Stalingrad and Grozny would have most serious consequences for the Soviet people and for all the freedom-loving world. It would separate the Russian armies and cut off the rest of Russia from the main Caucasian oil supply.

The Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Express” says that a powerful German panzer force moving in from the Kotelnikovo sector is reported to be fighting round Kumakov, about 50 miles from Stalingrad. Herr Hitler is believed to have reached the front in an armoured train to direct the

final assault against Stalingrad.

The German High Command announced that the great decisive battle for Stalingrad is now starting. According to the “Daily Telegraph’s” Moscow correspondent, the railway line from Stalingrad to Moscow is already being sheiled 13 miles east of the Don. The Germans have flung in their best reserve divisions against Stalingrad, and German tanks meanwhile are striking toward the railway and attempting to cut the communications. Dispatches from Stalingrad report that Red divisions are furiously counter-attacking the advancing Germans. The plain between the Don and

Volga ia reported to be sown with minefields, tank traps and pillboxes, from which a storm of fire is being concentrated on the Germans. Like Battle of Moscow. The situation there is similar to that before Moscow last autumn. The opposing armies then also strained their resources to the utmost and fought themselves almost to a standstill before the decision was reached. The position before Stalingrad is different in one most important detail — it least two months of good campaigning weather remain before winter, the onset of which contributed to the deieat of the Germans before Moscow. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says the Germans are already within 10 minutes’ flying range of the Volga bend, in which Stalingrad lies, auu anti-aircraft protection is necessary for the river traffic.

other earlier reports from Moscow stated that the position on the approaches to Stalingrad had seriously deteriorated. The British United Press correspondent in Moscow says that a huge German tank force is advancing across the blazing steppes north-east of Kotelnikovo, and is threatening to by-pass Stalingrad and reach the Volga south of the city. The Germans already have driven a wedge into the outer rim of the Russian defences. Under the bombardment the vital Stalingrad-Moscow railway is now virtually useless. The German tanks and infantry which crossed the Don yesterday in force south-east of Kletskaya are nowdriving forward in an attempt to reach this railway. The Red Army, is making desperate efforts to hold up the German steamroller.

The new wedge in the Russian lines south-west of Stalingrad, where the enemy is pushing up the railway from Kotelnikovo, means that there are now two dents in the Russian defences. Moscow says that one of these dents points directly at Stalingrad, while the other, furl her south, is an attempt to reach the Volga between Stalingrad and Astrakhan. The country between the Don and the Volga is a level plain about -10 miles wide, without natural defences, and the position of the Russians is obviously grave, but they are fighting hard, their communications are better than the enemy’s, and their morale is high. Grave Caucasus Situation. The British United Press correspondent says that the military situation is equally grave in the northern Caucasus. Tm German spearhead has moved some distance south from Krasnodar along the railway to Novorossisk, and the Luftwaffe has intensified its attempts to wipe out the naval bases of Novorossisk and Tuapse, but is meeting with fierce opposition from the Russian air force, while the Russian Black Sea Fleet is shelling German positions on the coast of the Sea of Azov. Moscow radio announced that the Germans have captured Pyatigorsk, which is on a route leading iuto the Caucasus range. It is officially announced that fighting is proceeding near Prokhladnaya, 90 miles from the Grozny oilfield. Reuter's correspondent in Moscow points out the importance of Germany’s allied troops in south Russia. In quality he says, they are inferior to the Germans, but they enable the enemy to maintain a numerical superiority. Nearly half of all the German forces on the Pyatigorsk front are nonGerman. and the same is true of the Voronezh front and . the upper Don. The Germans are using about 40 divisions of Hungarians, Rumanians, and Italians.