TEN TRANSPORTS SUNK

Evening Star, Issue 24287, 31 August 1942, Page 3

TEN TRANSPORTS SUNK

COSTLY MOVE BY GERMANS FIERCE FIGHTING ON ALL FRONTS (Beo. 1 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 30. The Russians continue to make headway on the central front, and they have had some local successes in the Caucasus and before Stalingrad. The Germans are doing their utmost to retain the water harriers in the Rjev area, rushing up tank and infantry reserves, and terrific air battles have developed. ‘ Pravda ’ says the Germans are_ fighting tooth and nail for every position in the Rjev area. A fierce battle is raging west of Substov, where the Russians have occupied several new places. The Russians on the northern and north-eastern outskirts of Rjev have dislodged the Germans from more pillboxes, and are battling on for every house. Fighting is proceeding at the western approaches to Rjev in open country, where the Germans have dug themselves in; but the Russians are continuing their methodical process. Moscow this afternoon reported that, despite fierce German resistance, the Russians have recaptured four settlements in the Prokhladnaya-Mosdok area in the Caucasus. Numerous German attacks were repulsed in other sectors on these fronts. Russian coastal defences on Saturday smashed a German landing attempt on the Black Sea coast, sinking 10 transports with shells. Not a single vessel was able to anchor near the shore. The attempt was launched from the Kerch Peninsula. ‘ Red Star ’ says the Russians north-, westwards of Stalingrad captured an important unnamed town. Red army troops, after a fierce battle, drove the Germans from the heights governing vital roads at the rear of the town. Other units, after frontal and flank assaults, pushed the Germans into the streets, where the battle was carried on until the enemy remnants were wiped out. A German communique states that infantry and motorised units, with strong air support, broke through strongly-fortified positions in the Stalingrad area, and penetrated deeply into the Russian defence system. bablylattereb AXIS SHOCK DIVISIONS REGROUPING NECESSITATED LONDON, August 30. The Moscow correspondent of the ‘ Daily Telegraph ’ says Field-Marshal von Bock is still pressing as hard as ever against Stalingrad, but the, main shock divisions of the armoured motorised forces were badly battered in their first attempt to break through. While the shock force has been regrouping Marshal Timoshenko has snatched the chance to strengthen the worst sections by vigorous local counter-attacks. Ho is trying to liquidate the German wedges or build giant cells around them. The air attack by which the Germans have tried to (blast a path into the city is the most massive ever seen on the Russian front. The defenders were outtanked and completely out-weighted in the air, but they have recovered magnificently, to stop, out-flank, and finally encircle a shock force north-west of the city. The Germans describe the Russian offensive at Rjev as a gigantic effort. General Zhukov is reported to have brought up troops and masses of tanks from depots deep in Central Russia. The situation in the Caucasus continues to develop critically. The Germans have pushed further southward from Prokhladnaya across the Malka and Terek Rivers. The Russians are maintaining a steady enfilading fire from batteries and pillboxes dug into the cliffs. The Germans claimed to have stormed some high passes across the mountains towards Tuapse and Novorossisk. Clearly a situation of the utmost danger has arisen in this area. The Berlin radio to-night stated that the Germans have occupied Lineinoie, a village on an inlet of the Caspian Sea, 40 miles from Astrakhan, and also Karpovka, 20 miles west of Stalingrad. They also claim to have occupied Gouelnaya, 15 miles from Noyorpssisk.,

SOUTH AND CENTRAL FRONTS GERMAN DRIVE FALTERS TO A HALT RUSSIANS SQUEEZING STALINGRAD WEDGE (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 29. The fact that the midnight Soviet communique merely reports that no material changes occurred on the front to-day indicates that the Russians have continued to hold the German offensive against Stalingrad. Meanwhile the Russians on the central front continue to advance against stiff enemy resistance. On one sector in this front Soviet troops attacked a strongly-fortified region where the Germans had erected a great number of fortifications and laid many minefields. The Soviet unit broke the enemy defence, _ and in spite of strong resistance dislodged the enemy in one locality, and then proceeded to dislodge them from a further six localities.' One Moscow message claims that the Germans have not advanced a single step towards Stalingrad in the past 24 hours. In fact, the enemy forces, which recently drove a wedge in the Soviet lines north-west of Stalingrad, continue to be pressed back by Russian counter-attacks. The Russians are advancing in a semi-circle and inflicting very heavy losses. German troops broke through the Russian defences at one point near the city, but the defending forces quickly rallied, practically wiping out the remainder of the enemy troops. The Russian morning communique recorded the sinking of two enemy transports, totalling 12,000 tons, in the Barents Sea. There is no indication of any further German advance in the Caucasus, while the Germans, who have been attempting to retake lost ground on tbe Leningrad front, have been frustrated after five days’ fighting. The Berlin correspondent of the ‘ National Zeitung ’ (Zurich) says that the Russian resistance at Stalingrad has literally doubled. The (Russians are flinging in huge numbers of tanks. The newspaper ‘Pravda’ reports that General Zhukov’s army in the last three days has recaptured 13 villages and smashed through the first line of defences around Rjev. The (Russians have captured an aerodrome _in the area of Rjev, greatly hindering the assembly.of German reserves and supplies. The Germans have converted every street into a minefield and have piled every crossing high with tank obstacles. ’ Russian guns continue to pound the network of pillboxes around the town. STALINGRAD CRUELLY AIR-BLITZED SQUARE BY SQUARE ATTACKED LONDON, August 29. Reports from Stalingrad to-day describe how the Germans are patternhombing Stalingrad ,in the same way as they made mass raids on Rotterdam. The Luftwaffe dropped hundreds of high explosives as wave after wave of machines went over the area. The Germans divided the residential area into squares and systematically bombed square after square. Leaflets were dropped announcing the day and hour of the German march into Stalingrad. The Vichy radio declared that the Germans in the Kalach sector have crossed the Kalach-Stalingrad railway halfway between the Don and the Volga. The Germans have also reached the extreme point of the Taman Gulf. A German communique states that the Russian offensive south-west of Kaluga and near Rjev has been smashed. Strong Russian forces south of Lake Ladoga attacked Gorman positions, but were repulsed in fierce fighting. The German High Command states that the Luftwaffe burned down several ammunition factories and set fire to two large Volga freighters and a tanker. ASSAULT ON LENINGRAD GERMAN PLAN SMASHED LONDON, August 29. The newspaper ‘ Izvestia ’ reveals that Russian marines and airmen have dealt a severe blow to a large

expeditionary force which the Germans in the last two months have been massing at Lake Ladoga for a now attempt to break Leningrad’s defences. Stormoviks caught the expeditionary fleet at its base with the vessels filled with troops, tanks, and munitions, sinking five troopships and six warships. A Nazi S.S. division had crept up across boggy ground to launch a simultaneous land thrust, but the Russian marines fiercely attacked and wiped out much of the division. A Stockholm message states that a large number of German barges has been concentrated in the Gulf of Finland for an assault’on Leningrad. It is officially announced in Helsinki that 60 planes last night bombed the city, causing fires and bomb damage.