BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

Evening Star, Issue 24293, 7 September 1942, Page 3

BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

Russians’ Grim Defence

German Hordes Held (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright (Rec, noon.) RUGBY, September 6. Russian troops are fighting fierce engagements south-west and north-west of Stalingrad and in the areas of Novorossisk and Mosdok. Russian warships have sunk a 10,000-ton enemy transport in the Black Sea. Though the position of Stalingrad is still serious it has not become worse during the past 24 hours. The enemy has lost very heavily in men and machines. South-west of the city the, Soviet troops attacked enemy concentrations and drove them back after bitter hand-to-hand fighting. A Rumanian battalion was routed by the Russian troops, but at another point the Russians had to make a fighting retreat. The Germans claim the capture of Novorossisk, though it is not confirmed from any other source. The Russians admit a retreat north-west of the port, where strong enemy motorised forces have been advancing down the coast. Seventy enemy bombers attempted to raid Moscow, but •were driven off. Eleven enemy machines were shot down for the loss of one Russian plane. A Moscow communique states; “ The Russians southwest of Stalingrad fought fierce engagements with attacking tanks and infantry. All attempts to break into Stalingrad are meeting with staunch resistance. We repulsed attacks northwest of Stalingrad. We are operating defensively north-west of Novorossisk. Mopping-up continues in the Mosdok area. We took several places on the central front.” News agency reports from Moscow say that the German penetration south-west of Stalingrad was halted after one of the bloodiest battles of the war, in which thousands of Germans were wiped out in repeatedly rushing Russian positions in the face of terrific fire. The Moscow radio says the battlefields in front of Stalingrad are covered with thousands of Axis dead and hundreds of burnt-out tanks. Shelling goes on for 24 hours a day. Fierce and bloody battles are at present in progress, the Russians stubbornly fighting back from the flanks and holding the Germans. North-west of Stalingrad the Russians appear to have improved their positions and have penetrated the German lines at one point.