MAINTAINED BY THE RUSSIANS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 August 1942, Page 3

MAINTAINED BY THE RUSSIANS

On the Don Battlefront SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON ENEMY CONVOY LARQE TRANSPORT TORPEDOED ON SEA OF AZOV LONDON, August 3. The Russians are still putting up a fierce resistance against heavy German pressure south of the Lower Don. The two main centres of fighting are Kushchevskaya and Salsk, both important railway centres. Russian dive-bombers successfully raided enemy tanks and motorised columns of reserves, The Germans claimed two days ago to have captured Kushchovskaya. In the Salsk area, fighting has been going on for two days. The Russians admit further withdrawals. There is no confirmation of the German claim to have widened their thrust in this sector. The Russians announce successful counter-attacks by Cossacks. Further north, in the Don bend, the Germans are making intense efforts to reinforce the troops and tanks which have already crossed the Don. The Russians have re-established a number of bridgeheads on the west bank of the Don. A German High Command spokesman admitted that Russian attacks in the Voronezh area had put an extremely heavy strain on the German forces, which were on the defensive there. Naval ships and planes made a successful attack on a German convoy in the Sea of Azov. A 15,000-ton transport was torpedoed. Soviet ships also pounded a German concentration on land. Another group of dive-bombers made a successful raid on an enemy naval base.