RAIN AT STALINGRAD PROBLEM FOR GERMANS

Southland Times, Issue 24883, 24 October 1942, Page 5

RAIN AT STALINGRAD

PROBLEM FOR GERMANS

ADVANCESLOWED DOWN

(Rec.| 10 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 22. The weather continues to set a problem for the Germans along the southern Russian front. In addition to the quagmired streets slowing down his attacks against Stalingrad, the enemy is hard put to it to find shelter for his troops because there are no large inhabited localities near the city for billets. Cold driving rain continues at Stalingrad and some snow fell on the steppeland north-west of the city. The Moscow correspondent of The Times says the Germans are continuing then - attacks on the north suburbs without gaining ground. Stalingrad’s situation is still critical, but it is now clear that the latest German offensive has lost its original momentum and lost its chance of developing an initial success while the Russians were off their balance. The Russian guns have been more than a match for German tanks approaching the disputed factory from the north-west. The Stalingrad field radio reported tonight that the Russians today beat back seven German attacks in the north-west sector of the city. The enemy was finally forced to withdraw. The German High Command, describing the Russian break-through northwest of Stalingrad, said the Russians, by concentrating their forces on a narrow front, succeeded in penetrating the German forward positions. The High Command claimed that the line had been recaptured.

WEATHER IN CAUCASUS Moscow messages say the weather is playing a vital part in the Caucasus, where the enemy is making an effort to bustle across the mountain passes southwards before the snow piles high enough to halt all movement. The German tank assaults have already diminished appreciably. The Red Army newspaper Red Star considers that the Germans are husbanding their heavy tanks, hoping to throw them in at the decisive moment for a break-through. It adds that the enemy 'in the past 10 days has lost 4000 men in bitter fighting for the mountain road. The German High Command in a statement said the Caucasus operations in the past few days had been confined to solving the transport problem which the Germans had done by columns of porters. An American radio commentator, in a broadcast from Moscow, declared: “The Caucasus is bleeding the invader white.” The British United Press correspondent in Moscow says that the weather has helped to slow down the Germans, who are showing exhaustion and are attacking only in narrow sectors. The tempo of the German assault in the north, in particular, has slowed down. Reuters’ Moscow correspondent says that cold wind with a steady, driving rain is sweeping through the city and tlie roads are coated with mud. RUSSIANS TAKE HEIGHT Red Star says that last week’s fighting clearly shows that the enemy strength is petering out. The Germans only have force enough to concentrate on narrow sectors and this is weakening the power of the offensive as a whole. Concerning the actual fighting Moscow messages report that the Russians after two days of fierce fighting have taken a height on the slopes near Stalingrad. All German counter-attacks have been repulsed. The height is one from which Stalingrad is clearly visible.

Despite the fact that the steppes in this region are swept by rain and occasional snowstorms the Russians are attacking night and day north-west of the city. The battle has broken up into countless skirmishes for heights and vantage points. The Germans have thoroughly fortified their positions, using heights to command the approaches to villages and cross-roads. Rain has not damped the fury of the fighting here, but it is interfering with mechanized warfare as the surfaces of the roads have been washed away.

Stockholm reports say that the renewed Russian attacks are occupying the chief interest in Berlin, where the might of men and machines striving to roll up the German line is emphasized.

On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus the winter weather has grounded enemy planes used for the transport of men and materials and in the Eastern Caucasus no further progress has been made on the road to the Grozny oilfields.