RED ARMY COUP

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 283, 28 August 1942, Page 5

RED ARMY COUP

Enemy Routed On Moscow Front NEW OFFENSIVE May Help Stalingrad (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received August 27, 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, August 26. While the tense battle for Stalingrad continues, the most promising Russian news comes from the fronts north-west and west of Moscow, where a surprise Russian counter-attack has pushed back the Germans. Moscow radio, in a special announcement, declared that the Russians in an offensive which was launched 15 days ago on the Kalinin and Western fronts, broke through 30 to 40 miles, and routed seven German infantry and two motorized divisions, and one tank division, and killed at least 45,000 of the enemy. Fierce fighting is now proceeding in the outskirts of Rzhev. The attack was launched on a front of nearly 200 miles, and the advance was made over a front of 90 miles.

Among 610 inhabited localities which were liberated by August 20 were the towns Substov (12 miles from Rzhev), Karmanovo, and Peteronoye. According to incomplete figures, the Russian troops captured 250 tanks, 750 guns, 567 mortars, and much other booty, while 324 tanks were destroyed. In aerial combat 252 planes were shot down and 290 destroyed on the ground. This Soviet break-through, the communique adds, was organized by Generals Zhukov and Koniev. The offensive on the Moscow front is interpreted as part of the Russian general strategy of attrition, rather than as a plan for the immediate relief of Stalingrad, but it is likely that it will prevent the Germans overrunning the- defences of the Volga cities with reinforcements drawn from these northern fronts. The manner in which the Germans are rushing Stalingrad from three directions indicates their determination to take the city and cut the Volga artery before the Russians rally or a second front is openDecember Push Recalled.

This Russian counter-stroke (says a later report) recalls the perfect timing with which M. Stalin launched the winter offensive last December in order to save Moscow. The Russians then held their blow till danger had swept up to the very ramparts of Moscow; now General Zhukov’s armies have moved a week after the Germans broke through to the north-east from the Zymlyanskaya bridgehead on the lower Don and began the fierce drive through Kotelnikovo which today is battering against the outer defences of Stalingrad. It is still too early to forecast the effect of Zhukov’s attack upon the crucial battles within a day’s march of Stalingrad, but the figures contained in the special Moscow communique clearly indicate the weight of the Russian attack.

The German official reports in the past fortnight indicated strong Russian attacks in the Rzhev and Viazma areas. Moscow’s communique indicates that these attacks have been on a considerably more substantial scale than the continuous probing activity that was conducted throughout the earlier part of the summer. Rzhev, Gzhatsk, and Viazma- —all strong-ly-defended “hedgehogs” to which the Germans clung when the Russian winter offensive forced them westward—comprise a formidable triangle of great strategic importance covering Smolensk, which is the pivot of the German front in Russia. LONDON, August 27. Latest official news from Moscow indicates that the offensive on the central front is continuing. New advances have been made and inhabited places recaptured; and hundreds of the enemy killed, it is announced. "Pravda” reports that the Russians are fighting in the northern outskirts of Rzhev against heavy fortifications. In the Viazma-Gzhatsk sector Russian infantry have broken into the defences, and a tank force has cut oft the retreat of a German force and is battering against its rear.

SOVIET RESERVE TANKS IN USE

Order To Stalingrad

(Received August 27, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 26. M. Stalin has ordered Marshal Timoshenko to hold Stalingrad at all costs, with the result that the full weight of the Russian armoured reserves was for the first time moved up to the front today. The Germans have replied with more dive-bombers and fighter-bombers, which are swooping in continuously against the strongly-for-tified Russian positions. The carnage

on both sides is appalling. The battle for Stalingrad is still moving in favour the Germans in spite of the Russians’ valiant efforts. It is estimated in Moscow that a total of 750,000 men, including 25 armoured divisions, are driving on Stalingrad from north-west, west, and south-west. A German break-through north-west of Stalingrad occurred after several weeks of the most violent battles on the west bank of the Don loop. There several panzer and a number of infantry divisions as well as heavy artillery kept pressing day and night. The Germans forced the Don several times, but the Red Army kept wiping out the enemy troops on the east bank. Three days ago, however, the Germans made a supreme effort to cross the river with heavy forces, and they finally succeeded under cover of a large number of aircraft. Enemy tanks and motorized infantry penetrated some way into the Soviet defences and began an advance toward Stalingrad from the north-west in the face of fierce resistance. At one place, near an unnamed settlement, a terrific tank battle took place and the Germans were turned back. The “Red Star” says that in this sector the Germans have penetrated into the depth of the Russian defences, cutting the junction of two Russian units, and the situation is extremely grave.

The fighting in the Kletskaya area continues with unabated fury, and the Russian defence remains most stubborn. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the Russians are holding the German drive from the south-west, and the Red Army in some places counter-attacked and forced back a number of German units. Mountain Passes Claimed,

The “Red Star” reports that in spite of huge losses by the Germans iu the region of Prokhladnaja, in the Caucasus, they continue to advance, and fierce battles are raging. The Russian fleet in the Sea of Azov, and marines, are chab lenging the Germans over a large part of the eastern shores of the Sea of Azov. A German communique says that German alpine troops took several high mountain passes in the Caucasus. A Moscow correspondent says that south of Krasnodar the Russians, have occupied a natural defence line iu the hills covering Novorossisk and Tuapse and have thrown back a succession of Germau attacks with exceptionally heavy German losses. "Pravda” reports that, guerrillas continue to gain successes iu the Ukraine. One detachment dislodged German troops from 32 villages and killed 69 officers, including two generals, and also about 930 other ranks. Another detachment killed 890 Germans. A third detachment killed 213 , police and 1300 troops. The guerrillas are now in control iu the whole of these areas. .

This morning’s Soviet communique states: “Last night our troops waged battles in the regions of Kletskaya, to the north-west, of Stalingrad, to the north-east of Kotelnikovo, and in the region of Prokhladnaya, and south ot Krasnodar. In other sectors there is no change.”