SOVIET RELIEF DRIVE

Southland Times, Issue 24873, 13 October 1942, Page 5

SOVIET RELIEF DRIVE

CAPTURE OF | HILL small Advance (Rec. 7.35 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 11. The Russians have had further success in their relief drive north-west of Stalingrad. The Daily Express Stockholm correspondent reports that the Russians recaptured a hill which formed a wedge in their lines and advanced 500 yards. Berlin radio broadcast a frontline reporter’s story of the fighting in the Mozdok area. “The battle has been raging for weeks near the cursed Terek River, which has swallowed so much of our comrades’ blood,” says the reporter. “The Soviet is using every device of fortification. A German infantry division forced the Terek River early in September and formed a bridgehead with a radius of two miles. The Russians attacked the bridgehead trenches and mine-fields with heavy artillery and prevented us from advancing. “We formed a second bridgehead, but all attempts to unite the bridgeheads failed. Finally, we formed a third bridgehead. A village lay before us. It became a hell. Russian gunners poured a hail of shells into the village. We had to get through at any cost and succeeded in reaching a blood-soaked hill. Our general suddenly appeared and ordered us back. The Russians had attacked our flank. We raced back and abandoned two localities. It was one of those terrible Soviet flank attacks. Numberless tanks and infantry forced us back yard by yard. The battle lasted 14 hours and the countryside for miles was on fire. More than 50 Soviet tanks were left on the battlefield, but we lost many a comrade. Many German tanks which advanced hundreds of miles met their fate here. We formed a defensive front and next day regained two hills.” RAIL BRIDGE SEIZED The reporter said the Germans subsequently seized a rail bridge across the Terek. “Surrounded by dust and smoke, tortured by thirst and without food or drink all day we fought with only one thought—to cross the cursed Terek,” he said. Military ski-ing is being organized throughout the Soviet as soon as the snow falls. Ski teams are being formed in factories, offices, schools and nlilitary camps. The teams will route march and make long cross-country runs. They will receive instruction in the military aspects of ski-ing. The Moscow correspondent of the News Chronicle, Paul Winterton, says that the lull in German activity is due to sheer exhaustion. He quotes the recent German High Command statement that no further assaults would be made on Stalingrad by infantry and that artillery and dive-bombers would “finish off the job.” This decision, he says, was forced upon the German military leaders by the tremendous losses they have suffered in their repeated attacks on the Russian positions. Hie Russian Army newspaper Red Star also emphasizes the persistent and heavy drain of the Stalingrad attacks on German man-power. It shares Mr Winterton’s view that the drain forced the Germans to make their decision to abandon the use of massed infantry. It issues a warning, however, that the Germans have not given up all hope of taking the city and says that new major attacks can be expected from the reinforced German armies. It remarks that, despite the High Command statement, the Germans until their attacks ceased continued to use infantry. GERMAN THRUST BACK

Forty miles north-west of Stalingrad the Russians have thrust the Germans back across the Don. Still in the northwest, but nearer to the city itself, the Germans are still straining every effort to try to stem the Soviet advance and are bringing up panzer forces and in-: fantry divisions in massed attacks. Their dive-bombers are also intensely active and one Russian unit claims that2l planes were destroyed in 14 days. The fighting is particularly fierce for a' large building commanding several city blocks. After changing hands three times the building is now firmly in Soviet hands. Further north still, the Germans are unloading siege guns day and night, in preparation to storm again before the coming winter the heights which are the key points to the Leningrad defences. The defenders use the nickname “Magnet Mountain” for the heights because they have attracted much metal. After a year’s bombardment shells and shell fragments around the ruined observatory are as thick as cobblestones. . . Opinion in London is that it is now probably too late for the Germans to get across the Caucasus range by the two available roads before winter sets in. Military experts point out that the snowfall which has already occurred in the higher passes must necessitate the withdrawal of the units which have climbed to the higher levels. If the Germans are to reach Baku and Batum they will have to make their way along the coasts. The Russians have launched a determined attack in the Caucasian foothills for a three-peaked mountain which the Germans have fortified. Russian guns are storming the strongholds, while Spviet alpine troops are slowly mounting to the summit. Cossacks and Black Sea marines are firmly holding the Rumanians southeast of Novorossisk.

I GERMANS FOUGHT 1 TO STANDSTILL ENORMOUS CASUALTIES (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 11. On the fiftieth day of the battle for Stalingrad the German attackers have been fought to at least a temporary standstill. The Russian Army newspaper Red Star says that although the fighting in Stalingrad continues fiercely the German pressure has somewhat weakened as a result of the enormous losses of first-line forces. Other correspondents describe the slackening of both infantry and tank attacks. Red Star, however, gives a warning that the enemy has not given up the idea of capturing the city and is bringing up fresh reserves for a new onslaught. The German artillery and the Luftwaffe are still ceaselessly hammering Stalingrad, but there has been a perceptible lull in the ground fighting. A German report states that the struggle is settling down to trench warfare. The Moscow correspondent of The Times says the Germans are largely relying on air-power to stem the Russian advances north-west of Stalingrad. The Luftwaffe is constantly over the Russian lines attempting to pin down the infantry. The Russians; however, continue to advance, taking further . strong-points and improving their positions. AGGRESSIVE RUSSIANS The German pressure in the Mozdok ■ area has certainly not relaxed and both here and in the Black Sea coastal belt the Russians are called on daily for new efforts in vigilance, courage and tenacity. Their aggressive operations in ’ the western Caucasus remain an in- ; spiration and their drive north-west of Stalingrad continues to make progress. Moreover, according to the German i News Agency, there is evidence • that they are preparing for an offensive ; at other points. The agency says that ; these are south of Stalingrad, in the ; Voronej area and in the region north ; and east of Smolensk. • SECOND FRONT PROBLEM i ALLIES ADVISED TO ; MAKE STATEMENT

(Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 11. After another week in which the newspapers and radio of Russia, also Russian news-sheets abroad, continued to give prominence to the subject of a second front, Reuters Moscow correspondent says it has become clear that the Russians are unable to understand the considerations determining the Anglo-American decisions on strategy, especialy regarding the opening of a second front. A statement from an authoritative British or American leader appears most desirable to prevent what looks like a further development of a fundamental misunderstanding. The Russian newspaper Pravda, after a comparison of British and American ship-building figures with the announced tonnage losses, declared that German propaganda that lack of tonnage was curbing the Allies’ expansion of war operations was worth nothing. The facts confirmed the assertions of the British arid American Press that the Allied losses were much exceeded by the ceaseless string of new merchantmen.

USE OF_AIR ARM ABILITY TO SECURE VICTORY DENIED (Rec. 7.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 11. “Some British and American military authorities are trying to prove that aviation is the sole force capable of achieving victory, also that land operations can be replaced by air attacks,” writes Major-General Zhuravlev, who is a high member of the Red Air Force, in an article in the army newspaper Red Star. “This is devoid of all sense of reality. The war will be decided by armies of millions equipped with land as well as air arms. The air arm must accomplish its task in co-ordina-tion with the land forces. “The Luftwaffe’s failure in the Battle of Britain, also at Stalingrad, proves that an air force cannot secure a decision. Aviation is unable to reach full victory on any front and cannot even create a front.” Major-General Zhuravlev said the Italian authority, Signor Douet, had declared that 3000 bomber raids would smash any city’s resistance, but Stalingrad was resisting after receiving the equivalent of 9000 bomber raids. The Moscqw correspondent of The Times says Major-General Zhuravlev was replying in particular to the Americans, Major Alexander P. Seversky and Captain Drake, who are publicizing the view that Germany can be smashed from the air. FUEL CONSUMPTION (Rec.. 7.45 p.m.) LONDON, October 11. The Russian newspaper Pravda says the Soviet Government has ordered a 10 to 15 per cent, reduction in the consumption of coal, oil and other fuels compared with the consumption at the end of last year. “The fight for fuel amounts to a fight for the very existence of the Soviet,” it states.