LIFE IN STALINGRAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 September 1942, Page 3

LIFE IN STALINGRAD

PICTURED BY “RED STAR” GREY CITY CHARRED BY BATTLE WOUNDED MOSTLY TAKEN ACROSS VOLGA BAKERIES & RESTAURANTS STILL WORKING (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY, September 24. Yesterday saw the fiercest fighting since the Germans first broke into Stalingrad, according to a Moscow message, especially after several German infantry regiments, supported by 200 tanks, and aircraft, had plunged deep into the city, in face of the strongest resistance. There was a terrific struggle for one of the largest buildings in the city, all the approaches to which were held by the Germans. The Red Army broke in, but failed to take the building and sent in five men only, who blew up the building, burying all the Germans inside. The Russians also retook another building, killing eighty Germans. Yesterday, north-west of Stalingrad,

the Russians made simultaneous attacks in several sectors: These were preceded by heavy air raids and intense artillery fire, after which Soviet tanks and infantry ..crashed through the first line of the German defences, and pressed forward in face of fierce resistance. A heavy German attack south-west of Novorossisk was repelled and in a counter-attack the Russians pushed forward slightly. “The Red Star,” giving an eyewitness’s account of life in Stalingrad, states that the Volga continues to link the beleaguered city with the rest of Russia, bringing up reserves and supplies. Stalingrad itself is described as a grey, smoky city, charred by battle. There are no safe areas, but everyone is used to danger. The majority of the Russian wounded are being paddled across the Volga, as it is impossible to run hospitals in a flaming city. Some bakeries and restaurants, however, are still working.