FIRMER THAN EVER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 September 1942, Page 4

FIRMER THAN EVER

THE RUSSIAN DEFENCE OF STALINGRAD POWERFUL GERMAN ATTACKS DEFEATED. SAVAGE CONFLICT IN STREETS & BUILDINGS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, September 22. The defenders of Stalingrad are showing increasing aggressiveness over the battle area as a whole. They have not only repulsed repeated German attacks but have gained ground in some sectors. The Russians in one district pushed the Germans back half a mile. The Germans are continuing to rush up troops by plane and are launching attack after attack, sometimes in three of four sectors simutaneously. The street fighting is described in agency reports as “unimaginable belli.”

Stalingrad’s big gun duels are reproduced in miniature in a thousand street corner and backyard battles with bayonet, rifle butt, hand-grenade and tommy-gun. The Russians rushed one German occupied four-storey building, killed the machine-gunners ’guarding the entrance and then captured the building, floor by floor, throwing the Germans through windows into the street, but not all this “infighting’’ is on such a small scale. The Russians repulsed one determined attempt to smash into the city with forty tanks and 1.000 shock troops. The defence lines proved impassable and the Germans fell back after heavy losses. The air war is equally intense, the Germans bringing up more and more planes. The Russians in one sector alone destroyed 65 Axis machines. Heavy rain and cold winds are now sweeping the Stalingrad area. Fighting is unabated in the Voronezh regions, where, according to front line despatches, the Russians, despite intense fire, made a new crossing of the Don and, repelling counter-attacks, continued to press. on, capturing a number of positions. . x The Moscow radio today said chai the Russians in the Voronezh area captured a “very important” position and that heavy fighting is continuing. The Tass Agency says tne Germans lost 3,000 men in four counter-attacks north of Voronezh, when attempting to retake lost ground. The Russians also broke frequent counter-attacks south of Voronezh. The Germans continue their determined efforts to thwart the Russian plans to drive “a winter road to Leningrad. The Russians have repulsed several counter-attacks in the Sinyavino area. , ~ , .. A German High Command statement, describing a battle lasting, all day south of Rzhev, says the Russians broke through in two places, but tne Germans, after very fierce fighting, restored the positions.

MAIN BATTLE STILL BEING FOUGHT OUTSIDE CITY. NO GERMAN ADVANCE FOR DAYS. (Received This Day, 1.15 p.m.) LONDON, September 22. “The Times” Moscow correspondent says that while German shock troops are gradually being cleared from the streets of Stalingrad, the Russians outside the city continue to have appreciable successes. The main battle is still being-fought outside Stalingrad, where a violent tank battle is taking place. The Germans have not advanced for several days. Two heavy German attacks collapsed today. Other fighting continues at a fair distance from Stalingrad, where the Russians are attacking with the utmost ferocity among piles of shattered guns and unburied dead.

SOME WITHDRAWALS TO MEET SECOND FRONT THREAT. TROOPS GLAD TO GET AWAY. (Received This Day, 11.15 p.m.) STOCKHOLM, September 22. The “Schwarze Korps” admits that some Germans have been withdrawn from Russia'to meet the threat of a second front. The journal states that all transferees are relieved to get away from Russia. After the terrible Russian winter they are- happy to go anywhere.