DEFENCE IN CAUCASUS

Southland Times, Issue 24823, 15 August 1942, Page 5

DEFENCE IN CAUCASUS

FIRM STAND AT KRASNODAR (Rec. 9.45 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 14. The Russians at Maikop and Krasnodar are taking full advantage of a terrain more favourable for defence. The strongest stand is being made at Krasnodar, where Marshal Timoshenko is preventing the Germans from crossing the Kuban in strength for an .all-out attack against Novorossisk. There is no confirmation of a Vichy report that the Germans have captured Krymskaya, although it is possible that weak German advance guards have penetrated into the neighbourhood.. The Russians still give less information than the Germans concerning the Rjev operations, says the Stockholm correspondent of The Times. The Russians have gained appreciable success in the Ilmen region since July. The Germans in the middle of July consistently reported the battle zone as south-east of Lake Ilmen. The Germans at the end of August altered their description to southwards of the lake. The Germans at present are reporting hard fighting south-west of Lake Hmen| RUSSIAN FLEET AT BATUM The Daily Telegraph’s Stockholm correspondent says: “Two facts emerge from the confused North Caucasian position—Field-Marshal Fedor von

Bock has begun an assault on the Caucasus and the Russians are slowly and surely being driven back to the mountains. We will now see whether the Russians have the strength left to turn at bay and beat their tormentors or whether the suggestion is true that Marshal Timoshenko has faced the choice of two evils, concentrated everything to save Stalingrad and left the Caucasus and the holding of oilfields to a handful of Russian divisions backed by the British forces in Iran. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has arrived at Batum, which is its base for further operations.” Fighting at Krasnodar is going on in tropical heat. Heavy battles are raging at Cherkask.

News from Voronej continues to be satisfactory, with the Russians steadily pressing back the enemy southwards of the town, where a German unit is threatened with encirclement. The Russians, using flame-throwers and tommy-guns, drove Germans and Hungarians from one locality street by street and ruthlessly exterminated nests of resistance established in houses.

The Moscow correspondent of The Times says an important Russian offensive, probably with limited objectives, appears to be developing satisfactorily in the Voronej area. Three Hungarian brigades were severely mauled. The correspondent adds that if the advance can be maintained the Russians will enter country only recently conquered and not yet fully organized for defence. On the other parts of the vast front .there are signs of increased Russian activity. The Russians on the Leningrad front recaptured a strongly fortified railway and road junction after the German positions had been softened by heavy shells from the Kronstadt long-range batteries. The Moscow Press generally presents a rather brighter picture of the situation, although it still emphasizes the need for a supreme effort. The great Kotelnikovo battle which was resumed on a larger scale on Wednesday morning after the Germans and Rumanians had suffered a sharp reverse is still moving slightly in the Russian favour, while the Russians have succeeded in restoring the position at Kletskaya after an important German advance in one sector. DISORDERLY RETREAT Details are now available of the phase in the Kotelnikovo battle which ended on Wednesday morning with the disorderly retreat of the German and Rumanian forces from the positions gained at great cost during the preceding few days. After hurling great forces of tanks, lorries and infantry against the Russian defence lines, losing many machines to the Russians tanks awaiting them in ambush and being driven back by a decisive counter-blow, the German Command on Tuesday morning accumulated a force of 300 tanks. These bore down in two waves on one line of hills where the Russians had established their main fire-point The defenders held their fire until the shock troops could be seen clinging to the sides of the tanks. The Russians’ guns and mortars then opened up a murderous fire. The German tanks were seen to recoil and many burst into flames as the thermite shells found their mark. Others broke formation, took cover in the small valleys, turned tail and retreated in confusion. The enemy then in the adjacent sector threw in infantry which edged the Russians off a number of heights. Before the enemy had time to consolidate the Russians counter-attack-ed, regained the lost territory and drove the entire' force, except one regiment, off the battlefield.