DRIVE INTO CAUCASUS

Southland Times, Issue 24821, 13 August 1942, Page 5

DRIVE INTO CAUCASUS

NAZI ADVANCE CONTINUES (Rec. 1.10 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 12. The Germans, thrusting deeper into the foot-hills of the Caucasus Mountains, are now 70 miles south-east of Armavir, opening up new and dangerous possibilities. The German columns are driving west, south and east. Already, it is reported, Russian troops are being evacuated from the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. Other sources report, however, that in some places the speed of the German drive has slackened. Field-Marshal Fedor von Bock’s drive on Stalingrad is held, in spite of desperate attempts to smash a way through to the great steel city. The Russians are holding firm at Kaluch. At Voronej the Germans are on the defensive. The Moscow correspondent of The Times says Marshal Timoshenko is using all his resources to defend Stalingrad and the Volga, so as to maintain the Soviet’s vital communications, but Field-Marshal von Bock is pouring in great forces of infantry and tanks. The battles at Kotelnikovo, also south ,of Kletskaya are continuing with undiminished intensity. The Daily telegraph’s Moscow correspondent reports that the Germans at some points in the Kotelnikovo area

forced their way into the Russian positions by sheer weight of metal, but the battle goes on without decision. The Russians in some Kletskaya sectors pressed back the Germans. Fighting in both sectors is the most bitter of the whole campaign. The Stockholm correspondent of The Times says the spearhead of the German drive eastwards from Armavir is reported to have by-passed the Miner-alniyevody-Georgeivsk junction and to have turned south-east into the Spa district, which is connected with the main Rostov-Baku railway by an electrified branch line. There have been definite signs in the last 48 hours that the Soviet resistance is becoming stronger on all vital sectors, except Armavir, says Reuters correspondent at Moscow. The Maikop oilfield, which was set on fire by the Russians, is now an impenetrable inferno of flame, reports the Moscow correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. German bombers are attempting to blast out the fires by dropping demolition charges down the blazing wells. A Russian supplementary communique reports exceptionally stubborn fighting north-east of Kotelnikovo, where Russian troops occupied a railway station after it had changed hands several times. Fighting is also heavy in the Krasnodar region, where superior enemy forces have compelled the Russians to withdraw to new positions. The enemy has gained some ground in the Maikop area. A German attack in the Voronej area was repelled wilth heavy losses. The News Chronicle correspondent in Moscow points out that at Kletskaya the desperate German attempts to break through the Russian lines have failed and to the north-east of Kotelnikovo the Germans are also held. Before Stalingrad and the Volga approaches, he says, fighting has attained a pitch of intensity never before reached in this war. Despite this the Russians have made little, if any, progress.

THREE RUSSIAN KEY-POINTS

STALINGRAD, BAKU AND ASTRAKHAN

(Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, August 11.

Stalingrad, Astrakhan and Baku are now regarded as key-points for the Russians to hold if Russia is going to remain an effective factor in the war. It is now apparent that Marshal Timoshenko’s North Caucasian forces were weaker than was expected. For this reason when the Germans exploited their successful surprise tactics Marshal Timoshenko had to choose between either defending the North Caucasus or concentrating everything possible for the defence of the Volga. He managed, by successful withdrawals, to keep the largest proportion of his armies intact and his decision to protect the Volga is regarded in London as being undoubtedly sound. The Lower Volga is one of the most important Russian supply routes and the sole remaining route by which the oil from Baku can be transported in considerable quantities to the interior. If the Russians can hold Stalingrad, Astrakhan and Baku, then the all-im-portant flow of oil can be maintained. Stalingrad is the key town of the whole Volga region, dominating Russia’s greatest waterway, which even in peacetime used to carry no less than 30,000,000 tons of freight a year. It has been one of the most vital reception areas for the factories evacuated from the west last year and it is also the great munition dump for the whole of the southern front GERMANS NEED STALINGRAD The battle for the approaches to Stalingrad is more violent north-east of Kotelnikovo. All dispatches from Moscow and Stockholm emphasize fire gravity of the position and underline the very serious possibilities of a German success hereabouts. The Germans need Stalingrad in order to straddle the Volga effectively, cleave the Russian communications and cut off northern armoured forces and planes from the

Caucasian oil. Any German success before Stalingrad menaces Marshal Timoshenko, whose army while comparatively intact constantly threatens the German grip on the territories at present occupied. The Germans meanwhile are fanning out eastwards from Armavir and are also closing in on the NovorossiskTuapse sector of the Kuban country. The Russians here are fighting defensive battles against thousands of German motor-cyclists, armed to the teeth and racing in, hoping to confuse their withdrawal. The military situation in the western Kuban sector is clearly irretrievable, and the Russians are fighting back mainly for time to demolish and evacuate. The Russians in the sector eastwards of Armavir have slowed up the Germans, but huge columns of armoured forces _ are still advancing towards the Caspian along the Caucasus foothills. These fact, are disheartening, but not disastrous, whereas if the Germans are not stopped before Stalingrad they could weaken the entire Russian resistance.

The question arises whether the Germans will attempt to force the Caucasus Mountains to reach Baku or strike swiftly across the North Caucasus, where only foothills impede them. If they reached Makhachkala they would be able to establish flying fields and bomb the Caspian shipping. The Germans may try to encircle Marshal Timoshenko by reaching Makhachkala and advancing 50 miles from the Don to the Volga. Other key points on the Russian front are Voronej and Rjev. It is felt that if Russian counter-offensives developed satisfactorily in these areas it would be a valuable aid. INTER-ALLIED TALKS The inter-AUied talks now proceeding in Moscow are regarded as of first importance. They undoubtedly include discussions on what aid can- be given Russia by the Allies. One result of the Germans’ success in the Caucasus will be that the approaching winter now cuts both ways, for the Soviet’s- economic losses are severe. Russia’s main supply problem is now fuel. She has lost more than half her coal production, with the result that European Russia faces a cold, coalless winter, for there is little hope of coal from the Urals and Kunretsk districts being available. The Russians have lost one-third of their wheat and 60 per cent, of their iron. Negley Farson, in The Daily Mail, declares that the food position in Russia is already alarming. It is a grim hour for the Allied nations, with the Germans striking ever deeper into Russia’s vitals, with Field-Marshal Rommel still threatening Egypt, with the Japanese ready to strike at Siberia and with civil disobedience in IndiaIndia, which can be regarded as the focal point and desired meeting point both of the Germans and Japanese.

It can be borne in mind, however, that there is evidence of great strain on the German home front and that in the battles now being fought the stakes at issue are almost as large for the Germans as for the Russians. German armament workers are being hard driven, while the Germans have cut down civilian standards in food and fuel rationing, also hours of rest. Meanwhile, British and American strength is growing in Britain.