TERRIFIC STRAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 July 1942, Page 3

TERRIFIC STRAIN

IMPOSED ON RUSSIANS NEED OF SUPPORTING ACTION BY ALLIES. EMPHASISED BY MOSCOW CORRESPONDENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 15. - Though the German progress has slowed down in the Battle of the Don, and a slight slackening Of tank pressure is reported after the terrific pummelling to which the panzers have been subjected, Russian authorities emphasised the gravity of the situation at a foreign Press conference in Moscow. The Moscow correspondent, of “The Times” says the Russian spokesman stated that Hitler is throwing 10 times as many men and five times as many tanks against the Don as against the Nile. The appearance on the Don of German divisions from France clearly indicated Hitler’s confidence that he would be able to outpace the Allies and strike decisively against Russia while another front was still in the early stages of organisation. “Hitler aims not only to seize rich territory but also to force the Soviet Union to use its operative reserves, thus reducing its ’ eventual striking power in co-ordination with a blow from the West,” the correspondent says. “The reserves so far are intact, but the territory under threat cannot be abandoned with the same confidence as that yielded during last year’s fight-, ing withdrawal.” " The correspondent states that the margin of territory that can be safely lost is now very narrow and it is dangerous to over-estimate the power of Soviet resistance—military, economic, and political. It should be realised that only the grimmest determination to mobilise all the available Allied forces and engage them as quickly as possible in this battle can retrieve the situation. Another Moscow message says that the Germans are estimated to be using 80 divisions—the same total as was hurled against Moscow last jtear—in the Don battles, and also 4000 tanks and 3000 planes. Mr Paul Winterton, in a dispatch from Moscow, says that in the Boguchar district the Axis forces are attempting a clean break-through at the point of their recent advance, and there is ground for a most serious view of the situation. The issues at stake are tremendous. If the Germans succeeded in taking Stalingrad, they would sever the main Soviet armies, cut off®the Caucasus from the rest of Russia, and imperil the Russians’ most vital lifeline. The Russian morale is high, but the situation is very grave.