ONLOOKERS PUZZLED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 August 1942, Page 3

ONLOOKERS PUZZLED

WHERE ARE TIMOSHENKO’S MAIN FORCES? NO SIGN OF STAND ON KUBAN > ' RIVER. CAUCASUS & THE CASPIAN MENACED. ■ \ (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, August 6. Stalingrad, the great manufacturing centre on the Volga, is now threatened from the south-west by a dangerous new German thrust. Panzer forces have advanced 50 miles toward the city from Zymlyanskaya, on the lower Don, and the “Red Star” reports a big tank battle near the railway at a point about 95 miles from the city. North-west of Stalingrad there has been a terrific tank battle in which the Germans were forced to withdraw. The position in the Caucasus is still critical and confused. Desperate fighting is going on over 100 miles southeast of Rostov, and there the “Red Star” says the Germans have captured several Russian defence lines. The Germans claim the continuance of thrusts far south of that position. Directly south of Rostov the Germans are again being held. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” emphasises that both the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus are endangered, and says the enemy possesses overwhelming tank superiority in the Kuban sectors. Tanks are rarely mentioned in the Russian reports. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” asks: Where are Timoshenko’s main Caucasian forces? He says Timoshenko had upwards of 500,000 heavily equiped troops in the Donetz Basin and Rostov area, and the greater part of these crossed the Don River. There are no signs of them in the approaches of the western or eastern Caucasian foothills, and. there is nothing to indicate that a firm stand will be taken along the Kuban River. ODDS IN TANKS VERY HEAVILY AGAINST RUSSIANS SUPPOSED ENEMY AIMS. GREATER USE OF PARATROOPS ANTICIPATED. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, August 5. The position of the Soviet army has become worse in the past 35 hours in all sectors of the southern front except the Don elbow, where the German pressure is also -increasing in a further terrific effort to capture all the territory on the right bank of the Don River. Marshal Timoshenko has been forced again to give way before the furious onslaughts of Von Bock’s panzer armies thrusting toward the Caucasian oilfields. The Germans appear to be driving south in a vast semi-circle with Von Bock possibly aiming at a gigantic encirclement of the Russian forces on the Kuban River, with the Maikop oilfields as the prize. The main battlefield is at present in the Bielaya Glina area, where every modern weapon has been brought into play in fighting which is increasing in ferocity every hour. The country hereabouts is ideal for tanks, in which the Germans possess vast numerical superiority. The conditions, are also suitable for largescale paratroop landings, which operations have so far been limited, but some commentators forecast their more widespread employment, particularly against the more important strategic points. EVERYTHING BLOWN UP DONETZ AREA “SCORCHED” BY RUSSIANS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 5. An indication that the Russian scorched-earth policy is as thorough this summer as last is given by a German correspondent, who says: ‘ The Russians blew up every factory in Voroshilovgrad (great Donetz centre), from the largest to the smallest, so completely that repair is out of the question. The same thing applies to the numerous small industrial villages in the Donetz regiop.”