Axis Pincer Move Progresses

Evening Star, Issue 24282, 25 August 1942, Page 3

Axis Pincer Move Progresses

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright

(Received noon.) LONDON, August 24. Moscow reports a continuation of heavy lighting on the various south-eastern fronts. Further withdrawals have been made in the Eastern Caucasus, where the Germans are maintaining heavy pressure in the direction of the Grozny oilfields and the high mountain pass to Tiflis.

The strong German attacks west and south-west of Stalingrad have reached a critical stage. Heavy fighting is maintained about the bridgeheads the Germans have flung across the Don, and, despite heavy losses, they appear to be consolidating their positions.

Correspondents, referring to the gravity of the situation, declare that the loss of Stalingrad would be the greatest blowthe Russian defences have suffered in the whole war.

In the Gulf of Finland Russian vessels have sunk a 7,000-ton enemy transport.

A further message states: Both arms of the German pincer movement against Stalingrad have made progress, and the latest reports from Moscow state that the position on the approaches to the city has seriously deteriorated in the past 24 hours.

The German High Command announced that the great decisive battle for Stalingrad was now starting. The British United Press correspondent in Moscow says a huge German tank force advancing across- the blazing steppes north-east of Kotelnikovo is threatening to bypass Stalingrad and reach the Volga south of the city. The Germans have already driven a wedge into the outer nm of the Russian defences. The vital Stalingrad-Moscow railway is already under constant artillery and air bombardment, and is now virtually useless. German tanks and infantry which crossed the Don yesterday in force south-west of Eletskaya are now driving forward in the attempt to reach this railway. The Red Army is making desperate efforts to hold up the German steam roller.

The correspondent : adds that the military situation is equally grave in the Northern Caucasus. The German spearhead has moved some distance south from Krasnodar along the railway to Novorossisk. The Luftwaffe has intensified its attempt to wipe out the naval bases at Novorossisk and Tuapse, but is meeting fierce from the Russian air force. The Russian Black Sea' fleet is shelling German positions on the coast of the Sea of Azov. The / Moscow radio announced that the Germans had captured Pyatigorsk. A Russian Unit between Moscow and Leningrad dislodged the Germans from 11 blockhouses, beat ofi 13 counter-attacks, and killed 650 Germans.