GREAT GERMAN ATTACK

Southland Times, Issue 24880, 21 October 1942, Page 5

GREAT GERMAN ATTACK

STALINGRAD 1 HOLDS OUT BIG NUMBERS OF TROOPS USED (Rec. 1.5 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 20. In a desperate attempt-to capture Stalingrad before the coming of the dreaded Russian winter, the German High Command is throwing endless numbers of tanks and infantry against the city’s tough defences. Battles raged all day yesterday and all last night in the northern factory belt, but latest reports state that the Germans were held. Heavy losses have been incurred by the Germans before Stalingrad. North-west and south-west of the city Marshal Semion Timoshenko’s forces are harrying the enemy and preventing him from throwing his full weight against Stalingrad. The German drive on the Grozny oilfields is still held at Mozdok. The Germans have captured another big block of buildings in the industrial area of Stalingrad. They are here throwing in more and more men in an effort to reach a decision. They have lost in this sector between 60 and 70

more tanks in the last 24 hours but have not attained their objective. Although the enemy drive has not been checked the Russian forces are falling back more and more slowly. Moscow however, issues a warning that the Russians cannot here afford to lose much more ground. Faced in the meantime with this stiffening resistance in the northern area of Stalingrad the Germans are now trying again to penetrate from the west. HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES A Soviet headquarters communique states: “In the area around Stalingrad fierce fighting continues. In one sector enemy infantry and tanks attacked our positions and at the price of huge losses occupied one block. Several hundred of the enemy were killed and 18 German tanks were destroyed. Our pilots shot down nine aircraft while the anti-aircraft batteries shot down five. North-west of Stalingrad our troops continue to wage fighting of local importance and the artillery has dispersed enemy infantry preparing to attack. In another part of the same front three attacks have been repulsed. In areas adjacent to Mozdok, in the Caucasus, enemy attacks have been repulsed. Soviet Marines during the week made a landing behind the enemy lines on the Black Sea. They inflicted losses and returned safely.” Russian troops, resisting fiercely in the Spartakova district in the north of Stalingrad, have recaptured the Dzherzhinsky tractor works. Despite the fact that their line of communication to the south has been cut and that Stukas are blocking any retreat to the Volga these units are holding up large forces which could otherwise be thrown against the Russian positions in the centre of the city. The Times Moscow correspondent says that the Russian operations northwest of Stalingrad are still of a local character. The German defences are strong and deep. Small groups of Russians are gnawing their way forward and each day brings slight, but significant successes.

1942 CAMPAIGN MAJOR OPERATIONS NEAR AN END. (8.0.W.) RUGBY, October 19. “For the Russian campaign of 1942,” writes The Times, “the days of major operations are numbered. “To find a line that can be held without ruinous cost through the winter has become the urgent problem of the German High Command. It does not appear that such a line has yet been reached on the southern part of the front. It seems necessary from the German viewpoint not merely to secure Stalingrad, but also a wide front on the Volga, instead of a wedge thrust out towards the right bank. The battle now raging for the factory area in the northern part of the city is indeed a battle for the lower Volga rather than Stalingrad. Even, however, if Stalingrad were yet to fall before the winter it is now too late for the Germans to hope for the exploitation of such a success as would justify the price that has been paid. GERMAN MASCALCULATION “An enormous miscalculation has been made. What Hitler miscalculated is not the march of the seasons or the power of the Wehrmacht, but the courage, tenacity and skill in war of the armies of the people of Soviet Russia. Outside the city to the north and south the Russian forces still hack desperately at the Germans’ flanks, [making small progress, but keeping the enemy under a constant strain in his present position. The enemy would never be free from these menaces. Therefore, it seems clear that he must go on trying to improve it before he establishes a line he can hold.” The Times points out that the Soviet military policy must inevitably _ be cramped for a long time by the deprivation of material resources the German advance has entailed and it is probably too much to hope that when the Germans go over to the defensive the Russians will be capable of any immediate counter-attack under file difficult conditions of their winter climate. They will go forward in due time, but to make their ultimate attack irresistible it must be concerted with a larger plan for the simultaneous closing in of all the avengers upon Germany. In what should be the last phase of the general Allied defensive Russia has borne the brunt and discharged her task nobly. The first move in the general counteroffensive is the responsibility of her Allies.”