RUSSIAN INITIATIVE AT STALINGRAD

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 16, 14 October 1942, Page 5

RUSSIAN INITIATIVE AT STALINGRAD

Harrying Tired Enemy POSSIBLE AXIS SWITCH TO CAUCASUS (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.i (Received October 13, 8.50 p.m.) LONDON, October 12. The Russians are refusing to play Hitler s game at Stalingrad. Instead of gratefully accepting the lull in the German ground attacks and resigning themselves to endure the constant shelling and bombing, they are hitting back in many small sectors, bayoneting the Germans from houses and forcing the tired enemy to maintain a most active defence.

It is not yet clear whether the Germans are using the lull for building up a new striking force before Stalingrad, or for diverting shock forces to the Caucasus. Berlin reports mention fighting in snowstorms near the Black Sea coast, which emphasizes Hitler s need for speed if he desires to force a passage of the Caucasian Mountains before winter, in order to secure a jumping-off ground for a drive on the Middle East in conjunction with a renewed offensive in Egypt.

The German reinforcements which are Still coming up to Stalingrad may be defensive groups intended to replace the shock troops diverted elsewhere, but the Russians are not taking chances. They are constantly strengthening the defences and feeding men and materials into the city across the Volga. It is revealed that underground factories throughout the siege have turned out munitions and repaired tanks and vehicles.

The Moscow “Pravda” says that Stalingrad may be razed to the ground, but it will not be taken. German divisions which are being flung against the city are still melting away like sugar in eoiling water. Russian marines who occupy a dominating hill half a mile from the city’s outskirts are again mentioned today for the first time since last month. They have been holding out for more than a month against daily German tank assaults and punishing aerial bombardments. Artillery and mortar duels continue in the Stalingrad area, though the Germans clearly are still using infantry. RUSSIAN OPINION Caucasus Front Forcing Diversion LONDON, October 12. The Russians are claiming that their successes in the Caucasus are again all'ecJng the German timetable, and Soviet observers are linking the ground lull at Stalingrad with the necessity for a German diversion of fresh divisions to the Caucasus, instead of to Stalingrad.

’ Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that at least one enemy division which was intended for Stalingrad had been switched to MosdOk, where it is already in action. One Rumanian division from the Kerch Peninsula was on the way to Mosdok when Russian activity in the Noverossisk area necessitated its transfer to that sector, where two Rumanian cavalry divisions had been badly cut up. The Russians in the Caucasus have generally wrested the initiative from the Germans. They are holding up all the German thrusts against the approaches to the Grozny oilfields. The Russians are not only sallying out against the German columns, but are improving the defences in case the reinforeed enemy manages to break through in any sector. Nazis Claim Advance.

Berlin radio claims that the Germans are maintaining an advance toward Tuapse along the road from Armavir, and also claims that the bridgeheads on tlie Terek River have all been linked up.

A German communique states that Germans annihilated the Russian unit which was claimed to have been encircled on the road to Tuapsq, and also smashed the 'bulk of a Russian Guards division and part of a rifle division after hard mountain fighting. Heavy Battles in North.

The Russians on other fronts continue lo decimate the German ranks. Moscow reports that the Russians in the Sinyaviuo area, on the Leningrad front, have captured an important height and killed 1200 Germans and repelled counter-attacks. The Russians in numerous sectors on the Kalinin front, north-west of Moscow, are fighting locally-important engagements. The Germans at one place drove back the Russians, but lost their gains before night, losing 600 in killed. Moscow radio declared that the Russians captured an important height in a Karelian forest on the Finnish front and killed 1500 of the enemy. GREATER HOPES Caucasus And Volga May Be Saved LONDON, October 12. Some Ixmdon commentators say that the l.’.Hsiun military situation is more hop. . i now than at any time since the Germans began their summer offensive. Morley Richards, the "Daily Express” military writer, declares: “There is indisputable evidence that the German army round Stalingrad, is teaching exhaustion. Reduced in.numbers, the Germans have been fought to a standstill. Von Moth may try again to capture the city, 'but (he Red Army is supremely confident.” The “Daily Telegraph” says: “The lull in the German infantry attacks against Stalingrad is the best news we have bad for some time. The Germans are feeling deeply their losses in frontline troops.” The "News Chronicle” says: "There is no tendency to under-rate the enemy’s remarkable striking power, but at la-t ii really looks as if the large Gc.rmau thrust has been so blunted that it may never be able to deliver a fatal blow.”

Captain Liddell Hart, writing in the "Daily Mail,” says: “Their most recent, setback may cost the Germans the eliunce of conquering the Caucasus ilnd establishing themselves on the Caspian Sett.” lie suggests that the smallness of the numbers of tanks which the Germans are using in the Caucasus shows that the enemy is increasingly handicapped by wastage of tanks and trained crews, or that the German command has fallen back on the old habit of employing tanks in driblets instead of in massed drives.