EXTENDED CONFERENCE WITH STALIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 August 1942, Page 3

EXTENDED CONFERENCE WITH STALIN

American Envoy Participates DECISIONS REACHED ON PROSECUTION OF WAR AGAINST THE AXIS DEVELOPMENTS IN DON BEND BATTLE LONDON, August 17. The British. Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, and Mr A. Harriman, United States Lend-Lease Administrator, have had meeting’s in Moscow with M. Stalin. Mr Churchill vzas in Moscow for four days. A communique issued in London and Moscow stated that negotiations had taken place in Moscow between M. Stalin, Mr Churchill and Mr Harriman, the latter representing’ President Roosevelt. A number of decisions were reached concerning the prosecution of the war against Hitlerite Germany and her associates in Europe. In this just war of liberation the Allied Governments were determined to carry on with all power and energy until the complete destruction of Hitlerism and any similar tyranny had been achieved. An atmosphere of cordiality and complete sincerity prevailed and an opportunity was taken to reaffirm the close friendship between the Soviet and the United Kingdom, in complete accordance with the Allied relationship existing between them. Mr Harriman, in a statement made in Moscow, said President Roosevelt would agree to all decisions taken by Mr Churchill. America would stand hand in hand together with Russia. A message from Cape Town states that before Mr Churchill went to Russia, he was in Cairo, where he met General Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa. DRIVE ON STALINGRAD Enemy Penetrates Soviet Positions DENIAL OF SWEEPING GERMAN CLAIMS HARD FIGHTING CONTINUES IN NORTH CAUCASUS After many days and nights of incessant attacks by tanks, motorised infantry and motorised artillery, the Germans driving on Stalingrad from the Don Bend have succeeded in penetrating the Russian first-line positions. This report .followed a Moscow announcement that Soviet forces in the area were engaged in heavy defensive actions. The Germans today made widespread claims to have reached the western bank of the river in the Don bend area, which, they state, is now in their hands. There is no confirmation of this report. There is no reliable report that the enemy has managed to establish himself on the eastern bank of the Don. Stalingrad is 40 miles east of the Don. The enemy has made little progress in his drive from the direction of Kotelnikovo. Moscow reports that all enemy attacks in this area have been repulsed. There is no news of the German thrust towards Astrakan and the Lower Volga. The situation round Mineralnye Vody, in the foothills of the Caucasus, is still very serious. At this point, the Germans are nearest to the Grozny oilfields, which are 140 miles away. They are driving hard along the railway and oil pipe line running to that centre. The Russians have again been forced to withdraw. The Germans are still being held on the Kuban River and have not yet succeeded in establishing a bridgehead. The few Germans who have got across have been destroyed by Cossacks.