GRIM STRUGGLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 September 1942, Page 3

GRIM STRUGGLE

EVERY HOUSE DEFENDED ■ BY RUSSIANS DETERMINATION TO HOLD CITY TO THE LAST. ATTACK ON RZHEV PRESSED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) RUGBY, September 17. Now that the battle for Stalingrad has become a struggle for the city itself, Stalingrad has been converted into a multitude of minor fortresses, within one huge stronghold. Every house, intact or in ruins, is a firing point, states a Moscow message. Even if the Germans occupy the north-west outskirts, they will have to overcome barricades, tank traps and all kinds of obstacles in trying to penetrate through the streets and will have to fight for every house. The Russians are determined to hold on to the last. The Germans are bringing reinforcements up to Rzhev (states another Moscow message) as fierce _ fighting rages on the outskirts of the city. The barracks and the city airport, as well as a part of the suburbs, are in Soviet hands. Red airmen are incessantly bombing military objectives inside Rzhev, as well as columns of enemy reserves moving up the approaches.

RUSSIAN ADVANCES IN THE LENINGRAD AREA. LONDON, September 16. Reports from Stockholm say that the Russians who are advancing from the Volkhov area and also the Leningrad troops pushing eastward from the city have all the German-held neck between them under fire. Shells from the Rus-

sian long-range guns are falling in Shlusselburg. A Finnish communique reports that the Russians reached the advance Finnish lines in the northern sector of the Karelian Isthmus, but were driven off. Fighting continues. A Moscow message says the Russians are incessantly attacking north-west of Rzhev in attempts to extend their bridgeheads across the Volga.