NEW ADVANCE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20874, 28 August 1942, Page 4

NEW ADVANCE

SOVIET OFFENSIVE AXIS RETALIATES STALINGRAD DRIVE VIOLENT EFFORTS MADE (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (2 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 27. . The announcement of General Zhukov’s offensive on the central front was the signal for violent German efforts against Satlingrad and in the Caucasus. Front-line dispatches say that tank battles reached unbelievable ferocity, particularly north-west of Stalingrad. The Germans on some sectors have a superiority of three to one, but the Russians have brought in hundreds of tanks and scores of planer, and inflicted enormous losses on the enemy. IVlany German regiments have been bled white, but they are not relaxing the pressure for a moment. The same story is. true of the operations in the Caucasus, where the German reinforcements seem endless. The Russians here are ambushing the Germans with anti-tank guns and artillery, destroying men and material and repelling constant attacks, but the position remains serious.

Fierce fighting is raging along the railway to Grozny. Grozny's peril has been , increased by the German advance to Mosdok, from which roads lead to Grozny, and also to Vladi-ka-ykaz and thence to Tiflis. These roads are mountainous, but suitable for the type of operations now in progress.

20 Villages Captured ■general Zhukov’s forces have made a n,ew advance west and north-west of Moscow, captured .20 more fortified villages, and reached the Rjev-Viazma railway. . Fierce battles are raging between Rjev and Sychevka. The main attack against Rjev is from the north and north-west. Russian longrange guns are shelling , the town, where the Germans are fighting fiercely with artillery and minethrowers. The German losses are very heavy. 'ihe Red Star says that General Zhukov’s offensive continues,' with tanks .and planes smashing through and infantry, grinding the German man-power. .The original break-through of the Russian offensive in the Rjev direction was on a front of only six miles. The Russians massed troops in a wopd near Pororeloye Gorodishche. Behind them were large tank and cavalry forces. The German positions were in a wood across a stream. The Russian offensive opened with a terrific artillery. barrage , and a majs .air attack. The infantry then moved forward and crept close .to the exploding shells to wait until . the moment the Russian guns switched to thej depth of the German defences and .then rushed the German trenches. The Russian barrage had destroyed all ilife in the German outer defences. The Russians fanned south-west, west en 4 north-west from the breakthrough. The Germans abandoned their long-range artillery positions sevpn or eight miles from the forward lii.es when they learned ol' the break-through and the Russians, by thej suddenness of the attack and the intensity of. the bombardment, were able to take the fortified town of Pororeloye Gorodishche with small losses. ' Rain Enforces Pause Germans, doing their, utmost to prqvent the widening, of the breach, launched several, counter-attacks with tanks, but within a few days the Russians covered 30 miles. ' Rain enforced a pause, but the Russians then went forward with renewed vigour,, drove southward, and occupied Karmanovo, which is 18 miles north of Gjatsk, advanced eastwards, occupied Substov, and pressed on to Rjev. The German news' agency says that the Russians in the Kaluga, rind Rjev areas succeeded' in making certain loc|al progress. The German forces are _ carrying out a systematic strhightet ing of the front. The , German military spokesman said that the Russians in the past two days haV|o been -attacking on. the Leningrad front., Heavy artillery lire preceded the attack. , Strong tank fc/:mations that were thrown against the German positions- on the Neva Riyer finally gained,a foothold on the road, along the river, but the original defence line is now re-established. The German -News Agency declared that the battle for Stalingrad has assumed a -particularly bitter character, and added that the Russians are counter-attacking before the city. The Stockholm newspaper Tidningeh stated . that the Russians were launching particularly violent attacks against the Italian • lines north of Stalingrad. The Russians are exerting enormous pressure. The Moscow radio said that General ,von Bock now has 1,000,003 men concentrated for the Stalingrad offensive. The Vichy radio declared that the Germans had captured Mosdok. The Rome radio reported that fighting in the western Caucasus was going on-in snowstorms at a height of 9000 ft.