NAZIS BRING UP MORE TROOPS

Southland Times, Issue 24833, 27 August 1942, Page 5

NAZIS BRING UP MORE TROOPS

STALINGRAD DEFENCES IMPROVED LONDON, August 25. Soviet despatches describing the German advance south-east of Kletskaya towards Stalingrad say that the enemy has brought up heavy reinforcements of armoured forces and infantry and appears determined to take Stalingrad regardless of cost. Meanwhile, Stalingrad is improving its defences and the population is following the precedents set by the people of Moscow and of Leningrad in similar circumstances. It is carrying on vital work at full pressure despite numerous air-raid alerts. The port is working to full capacity receiving oil and food from the south and arms from the north. According to The Daily Telegraph’s Moscow correspondent the railway line from Stalingrad to Moscow is already being shelled 13 miles eastward of the Don. The Germans have flung in their reserve divisions against Stalingrad. German tanks, meanwhile, are striking towards the railway and are attempting to cut communications. RUSSIANS USE RESERVES “Huge Russian tank reserves have been thrown in against the German forces advancing on Stalingrad and terrific tank battles are being fought out beneath the blazing sun,” says The Daily Telegraph’s Moscow correspondent. Despite desperate Russian resistance the German panzer columns have reached within 30 miles of the city in the north-west and 50 miles in the south-west. Neither side is counting the cost and the battlefields are scenes of dreadful carnage. The German High Command tonight claimed that the tank shock force from the south-west. had penetrated 12 miles towards Stalingrad after bitter fighting. Stalingrad citizens are being mobilized to dig trenches and construct other defences around the city.. Factories are being moved to the east bank of the Volga. With the German pincers reaching towards Stalingrad comes the news of a third threat against the city. According to Vichy radio the Germans have launched a frontal attack from the extreme point of the Don bend on both sides of Kalach. German tanks, guns and infantry are still pouring across the Don by means of bridges, boats and rafts. PARACHUTISTS LANDED The Soviet newspaper Pravda reports that the Germans have begun landing a large number of parachutists behind the Russian lines on the Caucasus front as groups of 100 armed with Tommy-guns, machine-guns and mine-throwers are appearing in the path of the retreating Russian units. Other Moscow sources report stubborn battles at many places south of Krasnodar where, according to the newspaper Red Star the situation is steadily getting worse. Large German forces have been thrown into the fighting for Khladnaya, where the Russians vigorously counterattacked, but the position is grave as the Russians are heavily out-numbered. The German communique says that Rumanian formations have captured Emtrypuk.