DISASTER AVERTED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 September 1942, Page 3

DISASTER AVERTED

SOUTH-WEST OF CITV ATTACKING ENEMY FORCE HURLED BACK. ' AFTER DEEP PENETRATION • OF SOVIET LINES. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, September 16. The British United Press correspondent in Moscow says that a major disaster was averted southwest of Stalingrad, where the Russians tenaciously held their positions after German tanks and infantry drove deeply into the lines following a terrific air bombardment. , ~ The Russians clung to the German flanks, and their anti-tank units hammered at the tanks and others hacked at the infantry till the remnants of the attacking force were pushed back to their original positions. The Russians have completely restored the situation in this area after a day of terrific fighting. The Germans had got their shocktroops into a built-up area, and positions ,of great tactical importance changed hands repeatedly. The Germans at noon launched a smashing air attack, in which 500 high-explosive bombs were dropped on a small area. Ground forces then pierced the city’s outskirts and appeared to be well on their way to consolidating the newlywon positions, but they wilted under the desperate Russian flank attacks and fell back to the starting point. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says that whenever the German ground forces get into difficulties with the Russian artillery they call up the Luftwaffe, and they are using their tanks with increasing prudence. If the Luftwaffe succeeds in blasting a gap the,, tanks and infantry pour in to consolidate it, while the bombers attack the next belt of defences. The Russians, who are now accustomed to the dive-bombing, fire on the planes from deep trenches with smallarms and machine-guns. They stay put, in spite of the enemy’s air superiority, and the result is that even where the German tactics succeed they often gain only a thousand yards after a 12-hour battle, in which the limit of human endurance is reached, necessitating a lull. SLOW GAINS AT HEAVY COST. “The Times” correspondent adds that the Germans bring up fresh troops overnight and again attack at dawn. They attacked the only village on a two-mile front six times in one day, each attack following a heavy air bombardment. All the attacks failed, 1500 men and 30 tanks were lost, but the Germans again attacked with fresh troops the next dawn and won the village after a battle in which the previous day’s losses were exceeded. A similar effort to seize a hospital has not yet succeeded. The Germans attacked six or seven times a day for several days past, but lost 1200 men. They feinted against an adjacent sector, and then suddenly reattacked the hospital, but again fell back, leaving 1000 dead.

Ferocious Russian charges have so

often cut up the infantry attempting to follow up tanks which, had broken through the Russian lines that the Germans have reverted to their original tactics of sending in the tanks alone. Now, however, sometimes as many as every seventh tank trails a field gun, and these batteries dig in as soon as a suitable position is reached and attempt to cover’ an advance by the infantry. The correspondent says there is no sign of either of the resourceful foes reaching the end of their resources or their fighting spirit. Stalingrad also is receiving a huge flow of reserves and supplies. The Red Air Force is outnumbered, but very much alive.