BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

Southland Times, Issue 24882, 23 October 1942, Page 5

BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

HEAVY PRESSURE MAINTAINED (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 21. There is no sign of any all-out German assault against Stalingrad. Despite the heavy losses of the past few days the Germans are pouring in reinforcements and are maintaining heavy pressure. Incessant rain continues to hamper air activity, but the tempo of the land battles is as fierce as ever. Rain has resulted in grounding the majority of the Luftwaffe on the mud-swamped aerodromes and the Germans are without then’ tremendous air “umbrella” and are compelled to meet the Russian Guards on equal terms. The fiercest fighting is occurring around a large factory in the north suburbs, against which two German divisions and 60 tanks on Monday started an attack. The enemy reached the very walls of the factory and only hesitated when they feared a blow against their flank. The Russians, taking advantage of the lull, counterattacked and drove the Germans back to their original positions. Fighting has swayed in this area ever since.

The Russian Army newspaper Red Star today reports that the Russians were pressed back slightly in a narrow sector where a serious breach was threatened. The Gennans penetrated to a strategic railway, but Russian reinforcements rushed in and are holding the drive. A German communique reports that the Russians between the Volga and the Don resumed their relief attacks from the north with strong reinforcements of infantry and tanks. The communique says the attacks collapsed with high losses. Another Berlin report says that Marshal Semion Timoshenkos new relief thrust was launched with three divisions and more than 100 tanks against a front only a few miles wide. RUSSIANS WIDEN GAP Moscow radio tonight declared that the relief army north-west of Stalingrad improved its position, the Russians having widened the gap previously made jn the German corridor. The Russian newspaper Izvestia states that the Luftwaffe dropped 1000 tons of bombs during 1800 air attacks against a mile-long sector north-west of Stalingrad during the latest German assault. “The earth was seamed with white-hot metal, but the Germans achieved only.local successes,” says the newspaper. “They failed in their objective of splitting the defences. The Russians, firmly entrenched, are still barring the way.” According to Red Star the Germans have lost 60 tanks in the past two days in their attacks on North Stalingrad. While deadly fighting is going on at both ends of Stalingrad, which is probably the longest city in the world, life in the centre is practically normal. The newspaper Pravda says that the size of the city, stretching as it does 40 miles along the Volga, permits the continuance of life in the central section. Shells sometimes interrupt life in these parts, but normally some children still play in the streets, women tend allotments, the electric powerstation is still working and a newspaper is appearing daily. The Moscow correspondent of The Times says that a battle of a very different character is being fought on the billiard-table steppe south of Stalingrad, where the villages are between 10 and 15 miles apart. The struggles here are for the rare water-wells. The Germans and Rumanians are “sounding” village after village in an effort to drive to Astrakhan, via the lower Volga. The Russians are countering wtih small cavalry and motor-cycle patrols, audaciously swooping on the Germans. NEW RUSSIAN TANK

A Stockholm message says German panzer officers have brought to Berlin reports about a new Russian tank armed with several cannon and machine-guns and carrying a crew of nearly 30. In the Caucasus, in then - push towards the Grozny oilfields the Germans have also suffered a setback. The Russians in this sector have again improved their positions. The German thrust to the Black Sea port of Taupse is also meeting with successful resistance. General Dietmar, spokesman of the German High Command, broadcasting on the Berlin radio, said: “The task of the German troops in the Caucasus is to protect the rich territories between the Don and the Kuban, without which the Soviet Union will be unable to survive. The enemy is using many fresh troops, including trainees and members of the OGPU. We face a formidable task. There is no question of storming forward or over-run-ning the enemy positions. We can only advance yard by yard through seemingly endless Soviet fortifications.”