FIGHTING AT STALINGRAD

Southland Times, Issue 24840, 4 September 1942, Page 5

FIGHTING AT STALINGRAD

POSITION WORSE (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 2. The position in Russia can be summarized as follows: The costly Russian progress northwest, west and south-west of Moscow counterbalances the equally painful German progress in the Caucasus, but the continued Russian progress in the Kletskaya area on the distant flank of the Axis multitude before Stalingrad does not redress the deterioration on the city’s approaches. All sources, even German sources admit that the stubborn Russian defenders show no signs of cracking. The Moscow correspondent of The Times says a further advance yesterday by powerful German forces threatens not only the southern approaches to Stalingrad.’ After a lull following the virtual destruction of the 14th Panzer Division the Ger-

man Command at dawn threw in about 20,000 infantry and 80 tanks under a strong air cover in two columns south-west of Stalingrad. The Germans were held up for hours by artillery and heavy mortar fire. The Russians were forced back only in isolated points. Hundreds of Stukas were thrown in at midday, but the Russians rose up from cover, driving back waves of German infantry. Artillery stood off a tank brigade and routed 40 truck-loads of shock troops. The Germans in the evening altered their tactics, Messerschmitts heavily machine-gunning the artillery positions as tanks and infantry again attacked. The Germans broke through, but the' Russians regrouped in a new line, which is holding. GERMAN DIFFICULTIES Meanwhile Field-Marshal Fedor von Bock’s upper thrust north-west of Stalingrad is facing an increasingly difficult situation. The Russians are gnawing and thrusting against its exposed flanks. Russian gun-fire trapped relief columns. A small group of the most powerful Russian tanks broke up a sortie by 50 German tanks, which turned back after 17 had been destroyed. The Moscow correspondent ot The Times says there is heavy fighting at many points in a great semi-circle before Moscow from Kaluga to Bryansk. The Russians on the Kalinin front recaptured several more villages, but their advance has been slowed down by the Luftwaffe, which has been heavily reinforced. The battle for Rjev rages. The Germans claim that the Rjev attacks have been repulsed, also Russian mass at- ' tacks have been broken up. There have been many local clashes in the Bryansk area, where Russian troops and guerrillas hold the initiative in dense forests. Fighting has again flared up on the west bank of the Don, south of Voronej. The situation has become worse in the West Caucasus, where the Germans are gradually making progress along the mountain railway from Krasnodar and the Black Sea coast. The Russian newspaper Pravda says the Germans are using alpine troops who rehearsed in the Austrian mountains. Small parties of alpinists are infiltrating the valleys and attacking strong-points on the roads and railway. The German drive against Grozny is still held up on the Terek river, according to a Stockholm report. The Germans admit that the “scorched earth” policy has been applied most intensively in the Caucasus, but they have received valuable information from the Japanese on methods of restoring damaged oilfields.

Moscow radio announced that a large formation of bombers raided Warsaw last night. Large fires broke out, particularly in the region of German headquarters and near three large railway stations. All the Soviet planes returned.