BREATHING SPACE WELL USED

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 285, 31 August 1942, Page 5

BREATHING SPACE WELL USED

Effort To Nullify Nazi Wedges

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received August 30, 7.5 p.m.)

LONDON, August 29.

The fact that the midnight Soviet communique merely reports that no material changes occurred on the front on August 29 indicates that 'the Russians continued to hold the offensive against Stalingrad. , The “Daily Telegraph's” Moscow correspondent says Field-Marshal von Bock is still pressing as hard as ever against Stalingrad, but the main shock divisions of his armoured motorized forces were badly battered in the first attempt to break through. While the shock force was regrouping, Marshal Timoshenko snatched the chance to strengthen the worst sections by vigorous local counter-attacks. He is trying to liquidate the German wedges or built giant cells around them. The air attack by which the Germans tried to blast a path into the city was the most massive ever seen on the Russian front. The defenders were out-tanked and completely out-weight-ed in the air, but recovered magnificently to stop, out-flank and finally encircle the shock force north-west of the city. The Zurich “National Zeitung’s “Berlin correspondent says the Russian resistance at Stalingrad has literally doubled. The Russians are flinging in huge numbers of tanks. One Moscow message avers that the Germans have not advanced a single step toward Stalingrad in the past 24 hours. In fact the enemy forces which recently drove a wedge in the Soviet lines north-west of Stalingrad continue to be pressed back by the Russian counter-attacks. The Russians are advancing in a semi-circle, inflicting very heavy losses. German troops broke through the Russian defences at one point near the city, but the defending forces quickly rallied and are now practically wiping out the remainder of the enemy. Slogging Matches. LONDON, August 28.

The German offensive against .Stalingrad and the Russian offensive on the central front have settled down to terrific slogging matches in which .both sides are paying a bitter price in men and machines. The Germans now describe Stalingrad as a fortress, the outer defences of which are proving stronger and deeper than was foreseen. The Germans arc generally held, but drove in a further salient south-west of Stalingrad. The Russian defences, however, are unshattered.

The Russians are finding the going equally tough in the central sector. They axe exerting pressure along _ a 150-miie front between Rzhev aud Kaluga and threatening Gzhatsk and Medyn. It is not yet clear whether the Russians are aiming at limited objectives or hope to build up a major offensive. The Moscow correspondent of The Tinies” says that the first attempt to storm Staljngrad clearly failed. The German vanguard in some sectors is in considerable difficulties, locked within the deep Russian defences. This does not mean any general improvement in the situation, but does indicate the extraordinary toughness of the resistance. The second attempt, now under way, lacks the surprise element and so is likely to 'be much more costly than the first. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says that the Axis retains the general initiative on the Stalingrad front, but that progress everywhere has been checked. The Russians are furiously counter-attacking with some positive success. They have recovered some ground west of Stalingrad and also in the Kotelnikovo urea, where the position is morq favourable than earlier in the week. .... The Russians retain the initiative in the Kletskaya area. Heavy Air Attacks. As part of their offensive against Stalingrad, the Germans are launching numerous heavy air attacks against the city. A Moscow message says that 30 German aircraft have 'been shot down in two days, but the Luftwaffe succeeded in dropping hundreds of bombs in the centre of the city. The message adds, however, that the aircraft were unable to break through the Russian anti-aircraft defences guarding vital military objectives. Unceasing air battles are raging. German bombers aud dive-bombers are swarming in day aud night to bomb the central and residential ureas af the city and also roads and railwujs leading from them. The Russians are putting up a screen of fighters, and claim that dozens of German planes have been shot down. They also claim that, the German planes have not succeeded in reaching military objectives in the city, though parts of the central and residential areas are burning. The German High Command states that tho Luftwaffe has burned down several ammunition factories and sot fire to two large freighters and a tanker on tlie Volga. Reports from Stalingrad today describe how 'the Germans are patternbombing Stalingrad in the same way as they conducted mass raids on Rot-

terdam. The Luftwaffe dropped hundreds of high-explosive bombs as wave after wave of machines went over the area. The Germans divided the residential area into squares and systematically bombed square after square. Leaflets were dropped announcing the day and the hour of the German march into Stalingrad. I \ Reports of the ground fighting in the Stalingrad area speak of very bitter fighting in the vicinity of an important military objective. A huge group of enemy tanks and infantry broke through, but a Soviet unit counterattacked, permitting Soviet tanks and artillery to arrive on the scene and destroy 60 enemy tanks in the first engagement. The second engagement started with the Russians cutting off the enemy wedge from the south, and the Germans, deprived of reinforcements and supply lines, hastily turned to the defensive. The Red Army increased its pressure, seeking to wipe out the entire group. The battle continues. German Cavalry.

Trying to wrest the initiative frem the Russians, the Germans threw cavalry into the Kletskaya battle for the first time in the fighting on the southern front, but the horsemen refused to face the Russian tanks, and fled as the iron monsters advanced. The Red Army is pressing hard upon the enemy at many points in this area. The “Red Star” states that improved weather is making conditions favourable for large-scale tank and air operations. The German resistance is stubborn, reserves from other sectors having been brought in. Vichy radio declared that the Germans in the Kalach'Sector have crossed the Kalach-Stalingrad railway halfway between the Don and the Volga; also that the Germans have reached the extreme point of the Taman Gulf, on the Sea of Azov. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press reports that the Russians have retaken three villages in a counter-attack north-west of Stalingrad. In this counter-attack the Russians cut the communications of a three which made a breach in the Russian lines a few days ago. They are steadily wiping out the remainder of 100 tanks, which constituted the original force, despite determined German attempts to supply them from transport planes. The “Red Star” says that the Russians in the Kletskaya area are, pressing the enemy hard at many points in the Don Bend.

The situation in the Caucasus continues to develop critically. The Germans have pushed further southward from Prokhladnaya across the Malka and Terek Rivers. The Russians are maintaining a steady enfilading fire from batteries and pillboxes dug into, the cliffs. The Germans claimed to have stormed some high passes across the mountains toward Tuapse and Novorossisk. Clearly, a situation of the utmost danger lias arisen in this area. Berlin radio tonight stated that Germans occupied Llneinoie village on an inlet of the Caspian 40 miles from Astrakhan, also Karpovka, 20 miles due west of Stalingrad, and Gonelnaya, 15 miles from Novorossisk.