STALINGRAD BATTLE

Southland Times, Issue 24870, 9 October 1942, Page 5

STALINGRAD BATTLE

FIGHTING IN SUBURBS STRUGGLE FOR FACTORY AREA (Rec. 7.15 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 7. The battle for the factory area in north-western Stalingrad which was begun at dawn on Sunday is still raging and is now clearly the bloodiest clash of the whole Stalingrad conflict. The Germans all last night launched attack after attack. Guns and tanks frequently fought duels at point-blank range and groups fought hand-to-hand among the ruins in the murky light of flares, flame-throwers and gun flashes. The Germans failed to advance their ragged front by a single yard. The battle continued without pause at daylight today. A stream of German reinforcements is still coming up _ in planes. The Red Air Force is dropping leaflets welcoming the new-comers to the “German graveyard.” Stalingrad’s commander, General Todinstsev, issued an Ofder of the Day telling the troops that the city must be held at all costs, adding: “I am confident that despite all difficulties and all trials we will smash the German hordes.” HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES The Russian Army newspaper Red Star, describing yesterday’s attacks on north-western Stalingrad, declared: "Never have the Axis forces paid so dearly for small advances. They switched 1000 planes to this sectoi’ and broke through in depth. A dangerous situation developed, but the Russians brought up new reserves, which went into the battle straight from the march. Their violent counter-attacks prevented the Germans from consolidating and finally forced them to fall back to their former line. The Russians retain the initiative north-west and south-west of Stalingrad, but there is no diminution of the grim, bitter German defence in The Stefani News Agency (Rome) reveals that the Russians in their relief drive from the north threw a pontoon bridge across the Don, after which the Russians all night poured across the river. The Stefani Agency says Italian planes are strafing the pontoon bridge. The German News Agency, in its first direct reference to the Russian relief offensives, states that Marshal Semion Timoshenko aims to cut the German communications with Stalingrad. The Germans are maintaining their pressure in the Mozdok area, where they have advanced about 10 miles in the past 40 days. They are steadily building up their forces in this area. A very determined effort to reach the Grozny oil-fields and the Caspian Sea is expected. Heavy fighting has again flared up over a wide area of the Voronej region, also Sinyaveno. TRAFFIC TO LENINGRAD The Stockholm correspondent of The Times says beleagured Leningrad is maintaining a continual traffic across Lake Ladoga, also by air, principally at night time, when everything is used from obsolescent biplanes to armoured fighters. Hie Germans have met with little success in preventing traffic between Leningrad and Kronstadt, although shipping is confined to a narrow channel dredged across a shallow bay, which is within range of the German guns. Whenever the moon is too bright or fogs or mists are absent the Red Air Force blankets the channel and the German positions by dropping fog drums ; MATERIAL SENT TO RUSSIA CRITICISMJN MOSCOW (Rec. 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, October 7. The Moscow correspondent of The Times says that one hears criticism expressed in Moscow that the quantity and quality of British and American war material is under expectations and in some cases, under that promised. The question of aeroplanes particularly is emphasized. The Russian attitude will be misunderstood abroad if it is not realized that the question of material aid and the second front are considered here as one and the same .question. Naturally, if the Allies are contemplating an immediate offensive against Germany Russia wishes to be as strong as possible in order to play her part in the east. On the other hand, if the Allies are not planning to attack Germany soon it. is felt that Russia i|as a paramount claim to as much as possible of the best equipment with which to go on fighting defensive battles. In judging the Russian attitude it should be remembered that for the greater part of this year the Russian people have believed that victory was possible in 1942. It is emphasized in the discussion by diplomats of M. Stalin’s second front statements that the Russian view is that an emergency has arisen which demands immediate Allied action regardless of what was previously agreed on. Reliable information in Kuibyshev says that even the Dieppe raid resulted in the immediate dispatch to France of a number of new German divisions and the feeling in Kuibyshev is undoubtedly that it is the Allies’ duty to find a means of drawing off another 30 to 40 divisions.

HEAVY BATTLES IN CAUCASUS GERMAN ATTEMPT TO REACH GROZNY (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 7. Fighting is flaring up in all sectors of the Caucasus front. The Germans are intensifying their offensive to smash through the coastal hills to Tuapse, also in the Mozdok and Terek areas, where they are attempting simultaneous thrusts eastward towards Grozny and south-westward in support of the Black Sea coastal forces. The German High Command states that the Germans south of the Terek river have taken the town of Malgobek, situated in the important oil disrict.. Rome radio claims that the Germans are rapidly developing their advance and are preparing to overwhelm the Russian defences on the whole of this front. Reports to Moscow say that the Germans in the Mozdok area are bringing up fresh forces and large numbers of planes. They are suffering heavily from the Russian artillery and surprise counter-attacks, but are stubbornly pressing on. German suggestions that the Russian Black Sea Fleet is incapacitated and in refuge in Turkish ports are categorically denied. The Istanbul correspondent of The Tinies says the fleet is displaying the greatest offensive spirit and is taking a daily heavier toll of Axis shipping. Its mastery of the Black Sea is undisputed. The fleet has joined in battles in the West Caucasus, the big warships supporting the Cossack cavalry and gunboats assisting Cossacks barring the river valleys. GRAVE SITUATION That the Red Army’s continuing resistance at Stalingrad must not obscure the far-reaching gravity of the Russian situation is emphasized by correspondents in Russia, who report the lively discussion which M. Stalin’s latest second front pronouncement has aroused. The Stalingrad battle, says Reuter’s correspondent at Kuibyshev, has long ceased to be a struggle for limited, though vital, territorial objective. It is a large scale grapple between important parts of the German and Russian armies for the destruction of one or the other with the chances of victory and survival about equal and the issue hanging precariously in the balance. An official Soviet report says the Germans are bringing up reserves for the battle of Stalingrad. One Soviet position was attacked six times during the day. All attacks were repelled. Five German tanks were crippled and an infantry company was wiped out. Artillery wiped out an infantry battalion on another sector and also destroyed three tanks and two mortar batteries. Soviet troops improved their positions north-west of Stalingrad. Attacks were repulsed in the Mozdok area and seven tanks were destroyed. Heavy attacks south-east of Novorossisk were also repelled. MR WILLKIE’S IDEAS Freedom To Make Statements CHUNGKING, October 7. “I’ll say what I damn well please,” Mr Wendell Willkie told the Press when he was informed of a comment made on his statement by President Roosevelt. The President at a Press conference had declared that Mr Willkie’s statements urging a second front, as reported in the newspapers, were not worth reading because they were purely speculative. “In all my public statements I am speaking only for myself,” Mr Willkie added. “I am here as an individual for whom, for some reason, 23,000,000 Americans voted.”