PUSH TO VOLGA

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 289, 4 September 1942, Page 5

PUSH TO VOLGA

Growing Peril To Stalingrad

AXIS FLANK STILL IN TROUBLE

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received September 3, 11.10 p.m.) • LONDON, September 2.

The position of Stalingrad is now described as most serious. Unconfirmed reports, state that the outer suburbs are under shellfire, and also that the Germans north of Stalingrad have reached the banks of the Volga, where bitter fighting is raging. The situation in Russia can be summarized as follows: Costly Russian progress north-west, west, and south-west of Moscow counterbalances an equally painful German advance in the Caucasus, but continued Russian progress in the Kletskaya area, on the distant flank of the Axis multitude before Stalingrad, does not redress the deterioration on' the city’s approaches.

A Russian communique says that Soviet troops launched several flank attacks against the enemy north-west of Stalingrad. South-west of the "city fierce fighting is proceeding against German tanks and motorized infantry which 'broke through. There is also fierce fighting in the Novorossisk region. All sources, even German, admit tiiat the stubborn Russian defenders are showing no signs of cracking. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says that a further advance yesterday by powerful German forces not only threatens the southern approaches of Stalingrad, but also gravely embarrasses the Russians west of the city, who have their hands full in preventing the Germans from broadening the base of their salient across the Don north-west of Stalingrad. Pusli from South-west. After a lull following the virtual destruction of the 14th Panzer Division, the German command at dawn threw in about 20,000 infantry and 80 tanks under strong air cover in two columns ’south-west of Stalingrad. The Germans were held up for hours 'by artillery and heavy mortar fire, and the Russians were forced back only at isolated points. Hundreds of stukas were thrown in at midday, but the Russians rose up

from their cover, driving hack waves of German infantry. Artillery stood off the German tank brigade and routed 40 truck-loads of shock troops. The Germans in the evening altered their tactics, and Messerschmitts heavily machinegunned the artillery positions as the tanks and infantry again attacked. The Germans broke through, but the Russians regrouped on a new line, which they are holding. Meanwhile, Field-Marshal von Bock’s upper thrust north-west of Stalingrad is facing an increasingly difficult situation. The Russians are gnawing and thrusting against the exposed flanks, and Russian gunfire has

trapped relief columns. A small group of most powerful Russian tanks broke up a sortie by 50 German tanks, which turned back after 17 had been destroyed. In an early dispatch the Moscow cor-

respondent of the British United Press said that the Russians had withdrawn to a new line in the south-western approaches to the city, making the fourth withdrawal in 48 hours. The Russians were firmly holding their bridgehead on the west bank of the Don near Kletskaya, and had taken a sixth large village. Mr. Paul Winterton, the Moscow correspondent of the “News Chronicle,” describes the enemy air activity as disturbing, and speaks of the apparently overwhelming superiority of the Luftwaffe. This was demonstrated some days ago when bomber formations made mass raids on Stalingrad. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says there is heavy fighting at many points in the great semicircle before Moscow from Kaluga to Bryansk. The Russians on the Kalinin front have recaptured several more villages, but their advance has been slowed down by the Luftwaffe, which is heavily reinforced. The battle for Rzhev rages on. The Germans claim that the attacks there were repulsed, and also that mass at-, tacks by the Russians were broken up on the River Urga, between Medyn and Viazma. There have been many local clashes in the Bryansk area, where Russian troops and guerrillas hold the initiative in the dense forests. Fighting has again flared up on the

west bank of the Don south of Voronezh. The situation has become worse in the west Caucasus, where the Germans are gradually making progress along the mountain railway from Krasnodar and the Black Sea coast. “Pravda” says the Germans are using alpine troops who rehearsed in the Austrian mountains. Small parties of alpinists are infiltrating in the valleys and attacking strongpoints on the roads and railway. The Germany drive against Grozny is still held up on the Terek River. According to a Stockholm report, the

Germans admit that the scorched earth policy has been applied most intensively in the Caucasus, but they say they have received valuable information from the Japanese on methods of restoring the damaged oilfields.