MAMMOTH BATTLES OF ATTRITION

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 285, 1 September 1942, Page 5

MAMMOTH BATTLES OF ATTRITION

Hitler Stemmed, But Has Big Reserve

CAUCASUS ROT STOPPED

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Received August 31, 9.40 p.m.) LONDON, August 31. There have been no spectacular territorial changes in Russia in the past 72 hours, but mammoth battles of attrition are raging with unabated fury in the Stalingrad-Kletskaya-Kotehiikovo triangle and also at Rzhev, dwarfing the bitter conflicts at many other points on the 1200-mile front between Leningrad and the Caucasus. There have been no significant changes on the Stalingrad front in the past five days. The rot has apparently stopped in the Caucasus, where the Russians, with their backs to the mountain wall, are holding off the Germans from the Grosny oilfields and from the naval bases of Novorossisk and Tuapse.

However, Russian reports state that the Germans are bringing up considerable reinforcements in the Rzhev, Stalingrad and Caucasus fronts, indicating that Hitler still commands a great reserve pool pf men and machines. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says Russian resistance has stiffened from Voronezh to the Caucasus. The Red Army appears to hold the initiative to the north of Voronezh, and it continues to develop its successes west and north-west of Moscow and at Leningrad, and also to consolidate the slight gains that have been made on the Bryansk and north-western fronts.

The Russian front falls into two halves, and the whole outcome of the campaign depends upon the Russians’ ability to make the halves interdependent. The German commanders at Rzhev, Gzhatsk and Viazma are exhorting their men to fight so resolutely that the Wehrmacht does not need to transfer troops from the south. The Red Army counter-offensive is progressing slowly, because the terrain, unlike the southern tank country, requires the capture of each town to control the highways radiating from them. Otherwise the iittackers are handicappea by the swamps' and forests. The Russians fought for a fortnight in the swamps and forests round Karmauovo, the capture of which enabled General' Zhukov to swing his troops in three directions against Gzhatsk and Viazma, and also due west athwart the Rzhev-Viazma communications.

Less Nazi Confidence. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says that further Axis reserves are arriving before Stalingrad, where a supreme attempt by the Axis is impending. The German spokesmen betray markedly diminished confidence, one of them stating: “Only heavy artillery and mortars are able to shift the Russians from the formidable strongholds, and also the underground bastions which engirdle Stalingrad like a smaller Magiuot Line.

“It is impossible to think in miles — only yards, each of which costs material and lives. The Russian air resistance has strikingly hardened.”

Persistent local activity continues round Lake Ilmen and along the Volkhov River, this correspondent says. The Russian operations from Leningrad also continue. The Red Army broke into an unnamed town and has so far beaten off nine counter-attacks.

The Finns claim that heavy Russian attacks were beaten off between Lakes Ladoga and Onega. The Russian night communique stated: “On August 30 no important changes occurred on the front. During the week ended August 29 a total of 498 Gerriian planes were destroyed, and we lost 206.” A supplementary communique reported that in fierce fighting, north-west of Stalingrad large enemy tank and infantry forces were participating, but all their attacks had been repelled.

Attack West of Rzhev. • LONDON, August 30. In one mass raid in the central sector of the front Russian planes destroyed 50 out of 80 German bombers on the ground, states a Moscow message. Several other aerodromes .were raided as assistance to the ground forces which are slowly battering their way through the ruins of Rzhev. The Red Army broke across the Volga west of the city 'and through debris fortified with barbed wire and anti-infantry and anti-tank fortifications. The crossing was made on cable ferries under a hail of enemy shells and bullets and attacks by dive-bombers. The enemy is constantly rushing up new forces of tanks and infantry, but Russians continue to advance on several sectors of this front. “Pravda” says that the Germans arc fighting tooth and nail for every position in the Rzhev area. A fierce buttle is raging west of Subtsov (east of Rzhev), where the Russians occupied several new places. Russian troops in the northern and north-eastern outskirts of Rhzev have dislodged the Germans from more pillboxes and are battling on for every house; Fighting is proceeding in the vyestern approaches to Rzhev in open country, where the Germans have dug themselves in, but the Russians are methodically continuing their progress. Advance from Stalingrad. The “Red Star” says that the Russians north-west of Stalingrad have captured an important unnamed town. Another Moscow message says that in several sectors of the Stalingrad front the Germans have been forced to assume the defensive and regroup their badly-mauled troops. In the Kletskaya area, inside the Don bend, the Russians continue their activity. Order is being restored in the bombed districts of Stalingrad. . A German communique states that infantry and motorized units, with strong air support, broke through strongly-forti-fied positions in the Stalingrad area and penetrated deeply the Russian defence system. This afternoon Moscow reported that, despite fierce German resistance, the Russians recaptured four settlements in the Prokhladliiiya and Mosdok areas (scenes of the German attack east toward the Grozny oilfields and south over the mouiitains toward Baku), and that numerous German attacks were repulsed in other sectors on these fronts. A Russian supplementary communique savs that south of Krasnodar, in the attack toward the Black Sea bases, the Germans occupied several .heights after fierce artillery and mortar lire. Soviet troops, however, counter-attacked and compelled the Germans to retreat to their original positions after an infantry battalion had been wiped out. On the other hand, the Russians in those sectors are being told that they are fighting for Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The Russian counteroffensive aims at doing what it was hoped the Allies would be doing by now-drawing off the German pressure from the south.