GERMAN ATTACKS INTENSIFIED

Southland Times, Issue 24872, 12 October 1942, Page 5

GERMAN ATTACKS INTENSIFIED

NO SOVIET WEAKENING (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 10. Numerous reports give the lie to the Berlin’s spokesman’s red-herring of last night, claiming that it was not necessary to send in further infantry against Stalingrad. Messages from Moscow emphasize that the Germany policy of throwing in a stream of reinforcements is unchanged, and even intensified, keeping the battle at as high a pitch as ever. The National Broadcasting Company’s' Moscow correspondent says the Germans are keeping up the same murderous pace, but the Red Army’s resistance is not weakening. The Tass News Agency (Moscow), quoting front-line dispatches, says the jnomentum of the German onslaught itf continually increasing. The Germans are constantly bringing in fresh tank and infantry forces. The position seems to have grown slightly worse for the Russians in the north-west suburbs, where the Germans have gained two more streets, but they have now been checked. The German attack on the southern part of the city has been firmly held. • The Moscow correspondent of The Times says the Russians in the factory area of Stalingrad, after regrouping pnd consolidating after a short withdrawal, were only just able to stop the German attempt to break through to the Volga and split the Russian Army. The fact that the Russians had to do this for the second day in succession indicates the precariousness of the position. The Russians hold a prominent height

some miles from Stalingrad, from which long-range howitzers are pounding the German-held positions. RUSSIAN RELIEF DRIVE The Russian relief army north-west of Stalingrad is making progress, but slowly. The Swedish newspaper /Svenska Dagbladet quotes a report that Marshal Timoshenko’s northern relief army has at last forced the Germans to draw off reserves from Stalingrad and adds that if the report is confirmed it means that the Germans no longer have sufficient reserves to feed both the assault against the factory area and the left flank of the defences, which would explain the sudden reported change in tactics announced by the Berlin spokesman. A bitter wind has suddenly, begun from the steppes around Stalingrad, „ fanning the flames in the burning city. The Russians took advantage of the first twinge of biting weather by dropping leaflets on the German lines reminding the attackers that 300,000 Germans were frozen to death last winter. A Stockholm report qdotes a claim that Field-Marshal Siegmund List has replaced Field-Marshal Fedor von Bock in command of the German armies on the South Russian front. (FieldMarshal von Bock on September 22 was reported to have been seen, in Berlin in civilian clothes. He was supposed to have been, dismissed after differences with Hitler.) According to the newspaper Izvestia the Germans are suffering enormous losses on the Voronej front. One Russian unit in a four-day battle killed a large number of officers and men and ’ destroyed many guns, mortars and tanks. POSITION OF POLITICAL • COMMISSAR ABOLISHED (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 10. The posts of political commissars with the Red Army have been abolished by M. Stalin in a decree creating a single military command of units, reports the Moscow radio. Unit commanders will handle both political and military matters. Political commissars who have gained useful experience of modern warfare will be appointed to command units.