WIDE BATTLES IN CAUCASUS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 19, 17 October 1942, Page 7

WIDE BATTLES IN CAUCASUS

Very Large Forces LONDON, October 15. Faris radio stated that the advanced German forces, after penetrating several points in the inner defences, contacted the Russians in the suburbs of Tuapse. A German communique states that German and Slovak troops in the Caucasus have penetrated the Russian positions in the mountainous terrain and captured more than 500 strongpoints. Bitter fighting in the Terek sector resulted in the Russians being thrown back. German infantry forces at. Stalingrad broke the resistance of the Russians and penetrated deeply in ■the northern town area. Tlie Germans claim to have made further advances in the western Caucasus, but Berlin admits that daily gains by the Axis can be seen only on special large-scale maps. A more serious situation has developed in the Mosdok area, where the Germans are increasing their pressure in several directions simultaneously, and have managed to penetrate the Russian positions with tommy-gunners in addition to tanks. A series of big battles is raging. The Russians on the southern fringe of this area, are continuing their aggressive operations, and yesterday they improved their positions for the second successive day.

“In the operations in both the east and west Caucasus very large forces of tanks, infantry, and planes are involved, and new fighting areas are being opened up as each side brings in more effectives,” says the Moscow correspondent of “The Times.” “The Russians on the Mosdok front are mainly on the defensive. The German offensive which had fitfully progressed for many weeks has been resumed, but the length of the supply lines is preventing a sustained action. A violent battle has been raging for a week for an inhabited locality on the road from the Kuban plains to the Black Sea at Tuapse. The Germans are carrying out a large-scale offensive in these forested mountains, and are clearly making an effort to break through to the coast and liquidate the position which for many weeks had hampered their plans. The Germans are also increasing their pressure south-east of Novorossisk. Stalingrad Claims.

Though the Germans have unsuccessfully launched another big infantry and tank attack against the industrial area in north Stalingrad, reports indicate that the general assault against the city remains below the previous intensity. The German High Command described the fighting this morning as being around three big factories, and Berlin radio later claimed that German troops have taken the Djerzhinsky tractor factory by storm and reached the Volga on a two-mile front. (Vichy radio a week ago claimed that the factory was completely razed.) Moscow dispatches repeat that Marshal Timoshenko’s relief troops driving from the north can already see Stalingrad, “and not with strong fieldglasses, either.” The Russians’ drive from Kachalinskaya is heaviest on the right wing near the Don. The Germans, according to the “Red Star,” are maintaining fierce attacks in northern Stalingrad, while bringing up new forces by land and air. The Russians withstood all attacks and knocked out 23 tanks in the last 24 hours. _____