IN DON ELBOW

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 August 1942, Page 3

IN DON ELBOW

RUSSIANS HOLDING UP FIERCE ATTACKS DESPERATE AIR BATTLES OVER CAUCASIA. RED AIR FORCE TAKING TOLL OF TROOP-CARRIERS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) LONDON, August 12. A Russian communique records no further withdrawals of the Red Army, which is holding up fierce attacks at Kletskaya and north-east of Kotelnikovo, and fighting defensively in the Caucasian sectors, in the face of great pressure. A Moscow message says desperate air battles are raging over the Caucasian front. Junkers are rushing up troops and materials and the Russians are taking heavy toll of these transports. They are also plastering the Germans with fire-bombs, which have set the woods ablaze, trapping concentrations of men and material. One report says the whole Kuban Valley is ablaze. KUBAN IRIVER DEFENCE AGAINST STRONG ATTACKS. FATE OF BLACK SEA PORTS UNCERTAIN. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) RUGBY, August 12. German attacks in the Kletskaya and Koteinikovo areas continue with unabated strength but no further advance by the enemy in either of these important sectors is reported officially by the Soviet. However, the “Red Star’’ says the Germans are throwing fresh troops into the struggle and admits a Russian withdrawal at one place:. In the Northern Caucasus the Russians are defending the line of the Kuban River around Krasnodar against superior enemy forces. A Moscow message also says they are battering at a German wedge which they have cut off at its base. The situation in the Maikop region is described as serious, a s the Germans are using every effort to push on, probably with the intention of capturing Pyatigorak, 50 miles east of Cherkesk. It is believed iri London that the German progress southwards is slackenirg, as the * Caucasus foothills are reached. Eastwards, where there is no such barrier, the Germans seem to be pushing on fast. It is not yet apparent

whether the Soviet command will be able, with the forces available, to make a stand covering the naval base of Novorossisk and the port of Tuapse, the defence of which would extend their line by scores of miles. Further slight progress by the Russians south of Voronezh is announced.