NAZI ATTACK IN DON BEND

Southland Times, Issue 24825, 18 August 1942, Page 5

NAZI ATTACK IN DON BEND

FIERCE RUSSIAN RESISTANCE (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 17. The Germans have renewed their onslaught in front of Stalingrad and the Russians are fiercely resisting an all-out attack in the Don Bend. There is no indication of the Germans having reached the bank of the Volga, but even if they have they still face an advance of 40 miles to Stalingrad. In the Caucasus the Germans have occupied the oil town of Maikop, but the wells have been destroyed by the Russians. It is pointed out, however, that the loss of the Maikop oil, a high-grade fuel oil, will be felt by the Russians, who formerly pumped it to Tuapse for use by the Black Seat Fleet. Maikop, however, only produced 300 tons a year, compared with 5,000,000 tons from Grozny, 21,000,000 tons from Baku and 3,000,000 tons from fields in Eastern Russia. The Germans are nearer the Don than at any time during the three weeks of the Kletskaya battle, but the Russian gunner’s iron will before Stalingrad is reported to be holding the positions in the hills of the Volga Basin. The Germans have thrown in huge tank forces thereabouts, but the persistency and ingenuity of defence in the Crook of the Don Elbow clearly indicate that the Russians are undaunted and are

fighting back successfully enough to stave off a critical break-through. RUSSIANS HOLD ENEMY

The position in the Don Elbow at persent is not clear beyond the fact that the Russians are undoubtedly holding the enemy. Some reports suggest that the weight of the German attack in this' key-point is being called off. Other reports indicate intense fighting for control of important heights. Reports of the Kotelnikovo position are also ambiguous, but the Germans appear to have made some headway. The Germans are certainly keeping up the pressure in the narrow sectors facing towards Stalingrad.

The Caucasian armies further southwards are clearly not attempting to fight tank warfare without tanks. Therefore, they are losing the rich Kuban territory while they are realistically saving the armies for fighting again under more favourable conditions. The Russians are maintaining their resistance around Krasnodar. Another army trained for alpine warfare is reported to be waiting on the mountain borders of transCaucasia.

Moscow radio says that the Germans have regrouped their forces and have resumed their heavy attacks north-east of Kotelnikovo. The German infantry strongly supported by tanks and planes are thrusting north-east, disregarding all losses. Fresh German divisions are constantly being thrown into the battles. Hundreds of German dead and dozens of wrecked vehicles are strewn across the fields. GERMAN ATTACKS REPELLED

Other official news of the fighting on the Caucasian front is contained in a supplement to the communique. This says that in the region south-east of Kletskaya in the Don bend Soviet troops have repelled numerous enemy attacks and Soviet artillery is inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. In one sector of this front five enemy tanks penetrated the Russian positions. One Soviet gun crew destroyed three of them. On another sector Soviet artillery destroyed 26 lorries containing enemy infantry. In the region of Krasnodar, some 50 miles north-east of the Black Sea port of Novorossisk, German infantry supported by the air force is attempting to erect a bridgehead over the Kuban River. The Russian Air Force, constantly attacking, has destroyed . the first river crossing and has inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. One hundred and fifty German automatic riflemen who succeeded in crossing the river have been annihilated.

In the region of Mineralny-Vody the Germans with numerically superior forces have pushed back one Soviet unit. During this engagement six enemy tanks were destroyed and 250 enemy officers and men were killed. In the region of Voronej the Russian troops have pushed forward, killing 1200 enemy officers and men.

On the western bank of the Don on Saturday after an artillery .bombardment lasting an hour two battalions of Hungarians attacked the Soviet positions. They were met by mortar and machine-gun fire, were routed and were compelled to retreat, leaving on the battlefield several hundred killed and wounded.

FIGHTING ON BRYANSK FRONT On the Bryansk front one enemy infantry regiment supported by one motorized infantry battalion attacked the Russian positions on Saturday. The Soviet troops launched a counter-attack and dislodged the enemy from one locality. The Germans during the week sent against Leningrad district partisans (Russian guerrilla units) about 2000 infantry supported by 10 tanks, two armoured cars and a large number of planes. The partisans defeated the enemy. Taking advantage of the mountainous country at Mineralny-Vody the Germans are trying to outflank the Soviet defences concentrated in the gorges behind the hills, but the active Soviet defence is frequently frustrating the enemy’s plans. The Russian newspaper Pravda says that the Nazis are concentrating their main forces in narrow sectors, seeking to break through the defence at any price. GERMAN PROGRESS IN DON BEND (8.0.W.) RUGBY, August 16. While the Germans have undoubtedly made some progress in the great bend of the Don river there is no confirmation in London of the suggestion that there has been a great turn for the worse and it is not believed that the Germans have rounded up many Russians in the river area. As to the German claim to have reached tire river itself, it is thought that some patrols may have penetrated so far, but shoulder to shoulder fighting is not implied.

In the Caucasus, it now appears improbable that the Germans are trying to cross the mountains between Cherkask and Sukhum, the Black Sea port about 120 miles to the south. Here the

track leads to a very difficult pass and there is a' gradient of one in six for about 10 miles leading to the 9500 feet mountain pass. There seems little doubt, however, that the enemy is attempting to cross the hills to the port of Tuapse. Meanwhile, the thrust to Novorossisk, further north, does not seem equally strong. If the Germans can reach Tuapse they will be to some extent in the rear of Novorossisk, from which the only available exit will be the sea. Novorossisk is well protected by hills which, it is imagined, are fortified. Regarding the German claim to have reached Elista, about 180 miles west of Astrakhan and nearly the same distance due south of Stalingrad, it is not now thought that they are trying to drive due east to the big Caspian port, but rather that their advance is turning south or south-west and that their forces here may be looked upon as a flank guard to the main forces in the Caucasus.

The Russian Army newspaper Red Star, meanwhile declares that the entire Rumanian Army, 1,000,000 strong, has been hurled against Russia and it estimates that about half of this force is already casualties. The Ist, 10th and 18th Infantry Divisions, it says, and the Ist and 4th Alpine Brigades have been completely routed. The fighting capacity of the Rumanians is low and many resort to mutilation and desertion. The Germans have not fulfilled their promise to arm the Rumanians with modem weapons, but they frequently break up the Rumanian units, incorporate them in German divisions and send them to the most dangerous places.