HUGE FORCES IN BATTLE

Southland Times, Issue 24831, 25 August 1942, Page 5

HUGE FORCES IN BATTLE

DECISIVE HOUK NEAK (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 23. The battle for the approaches to Stalingrad continued throughout the •week-end with unabated fury, the manner in which the Germans met counter-attacks, also of a stubborn nature, confirms observers’ opinions that each side regards the battle for Stalingrad as the most vital factor in this year’s Eastern Front campaign. The Stockholm -correspondent of The Times says there is no question of any sudden Russian collapse before Stalingrad. It is now a fight to exhaustion. The huge forces engaged on both sides suggest that the battle will continue for weeks, even at its present intensity. Estimates of Axis troops engaged vary between 500,000 and 1,000,000. The Germans at the week-end made further territorial progress in the Western Caucasus, where the capture of Krymskaya junction is claimed. Fighting along the Caucasus towards the Caspian is reported to be going on in valley and gorges among the foothills. Russian Alpine-trained troops occupy strong defensive positions in many places. The Germans have already fallen into some carefully prepared traps in the Pyatigorsk sector, but the Russians are still withdrawing. TITANIC STRUGGLE Reports from Moscow emphasize that the decisive hour is near in the battle for Stalingrad, on the approaches to which a titanic struggle is being waged. The Russians are giving ground in some places under tremendous German pressure. South-east of Kletskaya the enemy apparently reached the Western Bank of the Don in strength along a considerable stretch of the river, but in the area of Kletskaya itself the Russians have counter-attacked with success. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says bitter fighting is proceeding in one sector north-east of Kotelnikovo, where after a series of persistent attacks Germans with tanks and motorized infantry broke through into the Russian defences. The struggle has been raging since midday on Saturday, with the Germans attacking from both flanks and trying to get reinforcements through. German detachments of Tommy-gunners and infantry which succeeded in crossing to the east bank opposite Stalingrad are reported to have been pinned on the bank since Saturday evening by intense Russian shelling and bombing. The German High Command announced that German troops have taken up the offensive south-west of Kaluga, the Germans have succeeded in driving a large wedge into strongly

fortified Russian positions. Russian counter-attacks on a broad front were repelled. A German communique says Russian thrusts in the Rjev-Lake Ilmen-Lenin-grad area were repulsed. Describing the fighting north-east of Kotelnikovo a Moscow message says that the weathei’ is very hot. Rivulets and lakes have dried up and. drinking water is precious. The bursting shells and the heat are setting fire to the brushwood of the steppes which allows the Germans to strike behind a screen of fire and smoke. Braving all hazards and using their water only to revive those who collapse, the Russians are repulsing attack after attack. SUFFERINGS OF RUSSIANS The Russian newspaper Pravda, also describing these battles, says that only the reA sun reminds the troops that it is daytime. The Russian Army has suffered torture, but is firmly holding its line. During the fighting tongues of flame began to lick the trenches and behind tne screen of smoke and fire surged enemy tanks and tonuny-gun troops. On orders from their commanders the Red Army men arose from the bottom of their trenches and fired until the steppe was strewn with German corpses. Another Russian newspaper, Izvestia, says that the Germans are holding a narrow line on the east bank of the Don south-east of Kletskaya, but that Soviet counter-attacks are preventing the enemy from widening the line. Baby tanks brought by the Germans to the east bank have been destroyed and fighting is raging along the west bank as the Germans try to find a weak spot in the defences. The enemy is hurling masses of tanks and planes into the battle on this narrow sector. Successful Soviet actions in the Caucasian mountain passes have prevented the enemy from driving forward in other sectors. In an unnamed vital settlement persistent attacks made by the Germans against the Soviet forces defending a valley led to the penetration of the entire Soviet defence line. The Germans turned and struck from the rear, the Russians gave battle and stopped the enemy everywhere, but finally were forced to abandon the valley. The fierce fighting continues. All reports from the front agree that the battles of the Don Elbow have reached a pitch surpassing anything in the hundreds of furious encounters of the past month in the whole of the Kletskaya region. Field-Marshal von Bock is still massing enormous reinforcements opposite the newly-estab-lished bridgehead in the Don bend ready for the vital thrust against Stalingrad. It is estimated that 500,000 troops and thousands of tanks and aircraft have been assembled for a frantic bid to cut off Stalingrad from the Caucasus. Russian newspapers emphasize that the German attack will be more dangerous than ever. Marshal Timoshenko is rushing up all available reserves, but the Germans maintain superiority in men and material in this crucial sector.