Frenzied Battles In Don Bend For Stalingrad Continue

Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1942, Page 3

Frenzied Battles In Don Bend For Stalingrad Continue

By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.

Russians collecting all available reserves to stem advance.

Rec. 11.45 p.m. London, Aug. i6. ALL reports froin the front agree that the battles on the Don elbow have reached a pitch of frenzy surpassing anything in the hundreds of furious encounters of the past month in the whole of the Klietskaya region. General von Bock is still massing enormous reinforcements opposite a newly established bridgehead on the Don bend ready for the vital thrust against Stalingrad. It is estimated that 500,000 troops and thousands of tanks and aircraft are assembled for a frantic bid to cut off Stalingrad from the Caucasus. Russian newspapers emphasise that the German attack will be more dangerous than ever. Timoshenko is rushing up all 'available reserves but the Germans inaintain superiority of men and material in this crueial sector. Moscow admits that the Russian positions are precaiious despite the destruction of a greater part of the f orce which crossed the Don.

The German west Caucasian push against the distant approaches to Novorissisk and Tuapse has stuck for the moment before the mountain chain backing these important seaports, says the Times Stockholm correspondent. The Russians mention hard fighting southwards of Krasnodar but the Germans are apparently not yet reor'ganised sufficiently to tackle the hazardous task of the determined drive through the difficuit hill chain. German progress eastward has hitherto been by spurts, the most recent of which carried them through part of the Spa district. The Germans have nowhere succeeded in getting more than a transient footing on the left bank of the Don, the Daily Telegraph's Moscow correspondent says. There are still some Germans across Ihe Don elbow, 40 miles westwards of Stalingrad. The remains of this bridgehead, which is sitiiated on the east bank of the river, are being fiercely counter-attacked. The Germans south-westward of Klietskaya hold a long stretch on the west bank and are marshalling heavy forces. The Germans vainly attempted to force several routes across the river. Furious fighting. is going on for the bridgehead across. the Don elbow. The Russians are crushing ■ the Germans with tank and bayonet charges,. throttling the Germans against the bank, crushing them under tank caterpillars, hurling them in thick bundles down the bank into the river and slaughtering them in the water with tnachine-gun and mortar fire. "Throughout the day we fought the enemy in the areas south-eastward of Klietskaya, north-eastward of Kotelnikov, south-eastward of Pyatigorsk and southward of Krasnodar," says a Moscow communique. "Our units at Klietskaya counter-attacked and dislodged the enemy from several inhabited localities. Fierce fighting continued south-eastward of Klietskaya. The enemy is attempting to cross to the east bank of the Don. Groups which crossed the river suffered heavy casualties. The Germans northeastward of Kotelnikov succeeded in driving a wedge in the Russian positions, Heavy fightirig is going on. We repulsed

an attack in this area and inflicted heavy losses. : "Southward of Krasnodar we fought defensive engagements, repelled two attacks and inflicted heavy losses. Our troops in. one sector after heavy fighting retired to new positions. Moscow radio says the Russians on the Voronezh front continue to advance at one point despite five successive German tank attacks. Fierce battles are continu- i ing along the west bank of the Don \ near Voronezh. The Russian- resistance is stiffening south of Krasnodar with the fighting assuming an even fiercer character. The Germans succeeded in advancing on August 21 only after an engagement in which they suffered heavy losses. , German attacks in all the other sectors . of this front were beaten back. A Moscow communique says: "Our warships in the Barents Sea sank one | minelayer and two coastguard vessels. Warships in the Baltic Sea sank a 15,000ton tanker." Endless columns of fresh German reinforcements are moving up to the Don bend, says the N.B.C. Moscow correspondent. Hitler is making an all-out effort to smash his* way to Stalingrad. The Luftwaffe is pounding both banks of the Don. The Russians nevertheless have not budged an inch during the past 24 hours on any vital sector. The critical point on the Russian front is recognised at London to be still in front of Stalingrad, where very heavy German pressure, lasting four weeks, has forced the defenders back in several places. During the last few days the Germans have been in a position to attempt crossings of the Don on a fairly wide front west of Stalingrad and in very severe fighting have been wiped out but the latest dispatches report that their attempts are continuing and the Russians are counter-attacking to prevent a consolidation of bridgeheads. In the Caucasus a German advance goes on south of the Kuban River towards the mountain ranges screening Novorissisk and Tuapse. Cossacks are fighting dogged rearguard actions in the i northern foothills. j