VIOLENT GERMAN ATTACK

Southland Times, Issue 24835, 29 August 1942, Page 5

VIOLENT GERMAN ATTACK

FEROCIOUS BATTLES NEAR STALINGRAD LONDON, August 27. The announcement of General Gregory Zhukov’s offensive on the central front has been a signal for violent German efforts against Stalingrad and in the Caucasus. Front-line dispatches say that the tank battles have reached unbelievable ferocity, particularly northwest of Stalingrad. The Germans in some sectors have a superiority of' three to one, but the Russians have brought in hundreds, of tanks and scores of planes and have inflicted enormous losses on the enemy. Many German regiments have been bled white but, as always, the Germans have flung in new reserves and are not relaxing their pressure for a moment. The same story is true of the operations in the Caucasus, where the German reinforcements seem endless. The Russians here are ambushing the Germans with anti-tank guns and artillery, destroying men and material and repelling constant attacks, but the position remains serious. There is fierce fighting along the railway to Grozny and the peril of the oil centre has been increased by the German advance to Mozdok, from which roads lead to Grozny and also to Vladikavkaz and thence to Tiflis. These roads are mountainous, but are suitable for the type of operations now in progress. NEW RUSSIAN ADVANCE General Zhukov’s forces have made a new advance west and north-west of Moscow, have captured 20 more fortified villages and have reached the RjevViazma railway. Fierce battles are raging between Rjev and Sychevka. The main attack against Rjev is from the north and the north-west. Russian long-range guns are shelling the town, where the Germans are fighting fiercely with artillery and mine-throwers. The German losses are very heavy. The Soviet Army newspaper Red Star says that General Zhukov’s offensive continues with tanks and planes smashing through the lines and Russian infantry grinding down German manpower. The original break-through of the Russian offensive in the direction of Rjev was on a front of only .six miles. The Russians massed troops in a wood near Progoreloyegorodische. Behind them were large tank and cavalry forces. The German positions were in a wood across a stream.

Hie Russian offensive opened with a terrific artillery barrage and a mass air attack. The infantry then moved forward, crept close to the exploding shells and waited until the moment the Russian guns switched to the depth of the German defences. Then they rushed the German trenches, but the Russian barrage .had destroyed all life in the German outer defences. The Russians fanned south-west, west and northwest from the break through. The Germans abandoned their longrange artillery positions seven to eight miles from the forward lines when they learned of the break through and the Russians, by the suddenness of their attack and the intensity of the bombardment, were able to take the fortified town of Progoreloyegorodische with small losses. The Germans, doing their utmost to prevent any widening of the breach, launched several counter-attacks with tanks, bbt within a few days the Russians had covered 30 miles. Rain enforced a pause, but the Russians then went forward with renewed vigour, drove southward and occupied Karmanovo, which is 18 miles north of Gjatsk, and advanced eastwards and occupied Substov. They then pressed on to Rjev. The German News Agency says the Russians in the Kaluga and Rjev areas succeeded in making certain local progress, but the German forces are now carrying out a systematic straightening of tlie front. ATTACK AT LENINGRAD The German military spokesman said the Russians during the past two days have been attacking on the Leningrad front. Heavy artillery fire preceded the attack. Strong tank formations that weer thrown against the German positions on the Neva river finally gained a foothold on the road along the river, but the original defence line is now reestablished.

The German News Agency declared that the Battle for Stalingrad has assumed a particularly bitter character and it added that the Russians are counter-attacking before the city.. The Stockholm newspaper Tidningen stated the Russians are launching particularly violent attacks against the Italian lines north of Stalingrad and that the Russians are exerting enormous pressure. Moscow radio said Field-Marshal von Bock now has 1,000,000 men concentrated for the Stalingrad offensive. Vichy radio declared that the Germans had captured Mozdok. Rome radio reported that the fighting in the Western Caucasus was going on in snowstormsat a height of 9000 feet.