FIERCE FIGHTING IN RJEV AREA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 1 September 1942, Page 5

FIERCE FIGHTING IN RJEV AREA

RUSSIA’S NEWEST GUN ENEMY CLAIM ON STALINGRAD FRONT FIFTEEN MILES FROM THE CITY (Rec. 11.50 a.m.) London, Aug. 31. Fierce fighting continues to rage in the Rjev area where Russian heavy artillery is battering Qerman positions from three sides. The Germans are attempting to bring up reinforcements. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press reports that the Russians have cut the railway between Rjev and Veliki Yeluki. The Red Army’s newest heavy gun is hammering against the enemy's defences in the Rjev area and is also in action on other sectors of the Kalinin front. It is known to the Russians as the Katyusha and abroad as Stalin’s secret weapon. The Katyusha smashed powerful German fortifications at Pogoreloye and Gorodische earlier in the month in 90 minutes, wiped out 60 per cent, of the Germans and crushed strong points. Giving a description of Substov before the Russians reoccupied the town a correspondent with General Zhukov's forces says: “The inhabitants, dying of starvation are living skeletons and wandered about the streets with their skins stretched tight over their fleshless bones. All wore expressions of fear and spoke in whjppers. Thousands of local inhabitants of the district were driven to forced labour camps.” A German communique states that German troops southward of Stalingrad are piercing enemy positions and wiping out considerable Russian forces. The Germans now stand 15 miles southward of the town.

Paris radio declared that the Germans widely breached the Russian defences north-west of Stalingrad. The Tass News Agency (Moscow) reports that desertions from the Finnish army are so widespread that the High Command ordered the police to arrest all whose papers cause “even the slightest doubt.” The newspaper “Hufvudstadsbladet” says that over 30.000 have been arrested in Helsinki this year.