THE BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 August 1942, Page 3

THE BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

Timoshenko’s Forces Fighting Day and Night ENEMY GETTING HEAVY TANKS & EQUIPMENT ACROSS DON FIGHT TO EXHAUSTION IN PROSPECT LONDON, August 24. In Southern Russia, Marshal Timoshenko’s forces are fighting’ clay and night in an effort to stem the enemy threat to Stalingrad. The enemy is getting heavy tanks’and equipment across the .'Don elbow. In' the south-west area, he has driven a new wedge into the minefield covering the Russians’ advanced defences. The enemy has now driven two wedges into the Russian lines. One wedge is aimed at the railway running to Stalingrad and the other, further east, threatens the Volga between Stalingrad and Astrakhan. Already the Germans are reported ■ to be shelling the railway linking Stalingrad with the north. Iliis railway runs within twelve miles of the Don in places. Although there is no immediate threat to Stalingrad itself, the Russian position is obviously grave. There is little news of the fighting north of Stalingrad. Near Leningrad the Russians have gained local successes. South of Stalingrad, in the Caucasus, the enemy is still making 1 progress. In the area where the Germans driving towards the oil centre of Grozny, Russian troops have been compelled to withdraw to new positions in one sector, after heavy fighting. In the Western Caucasus, Russian artillery are living up to their highest traditions in an effort to neutralise the enemy’s superiority in men and metal. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times’’ says: “There is no question of any sudden Russian collapse before Stalingrad. It is now a fight to exhaustion, and the huge total of forces engaged on both sides suggests that the battle will continue for weeks even at the present intensity. Estimates of the Axis troops engaged vary between 500,000 and 1,000,000.’’