IN BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 September 1942, Page 3

IN BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD

City Threatened on Three Sides GERMANS HURLING IN NEW MASSES OF MEN, TANKS AND PLANES IN FACE OF RESOLUTE RUSSIAN RESISTANCE AND COUNTER-ATTACKS LONDON, September .15. The battle for Stalingrad has reached a critical stage, with the city threatened on three sides. A mass assault by the enemy has developed in the air. Reuter’s correspondent states that the Germans have gained a foothold in the main defences and have fortified themselves on the western, outskirts of a village of great tactical importance. At one time the enemy held the entire village, but Marshall Timoshenko’s forces launched a violent counter-attack and hurled out the Germans. The village changed hands time after time and there were heavy casualties on both sides. When the Germans were driven; out the last time they dropped-500 high explosive bombs in a small area in an effort to wipe out the defenders. German shock troops then penetrated the Russian positions. i Hour by hour the situation grows more tense. The enemy is throwing in masses of men, tanks and planes. Russian coun-ter-attacks further north have not yet achieved the weight needed for decisive results. Heavy attacks night and day are being made by the greatly reinforced German air force. Russian airmen, although greatly outnumbered, are putting up a tremendous fight. The main feature of the Stalingrad fighting since Sunday has been the lavish use by the enemy of bombers and artillery, which attempt to blast all life from the ground before the enemy infantry advance. North-west of Stalingrad fighting continues for a Russian bridgehead near Voronezh. Further north the Russians are still making progress yard by yard. The latest German report of the fighting for Stalingrad states that the penetration has been from the south through the suburbs, where every house is fortified and every foot of ground is contested. The main weight of the German pressure has shifted for the moment from the west to the south-west, and Marshal Timoshenko continues to exact a fearful price for every yard of German progress.