LITTLE PROGRESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 October 1942, Page 3

LITTLE PROGRESS

MADE BY GERMANS IN THE CAUCASUS ENEMY HEAVILY DEFEATED WEST OF MOSCOW. COUNTER-ATTACK AT RZHEV SMASHED. LONDON, October 8. Neither the Russians nor the Germans are overlooking the importance of the battle for the Caucasus, where winter lays its hampering hand last of all on the Russian fronts. It is indicative of the Russians’ skill and determination that for six weeks they have kept the German advance in the Mozdok area at less than two miles a week. Their resistance in the western Caucasus has been equally stubborn, and today’s reports to Moscow say that the Germans have not gained an inch in the western Caucasus since the fall of Novorossisk 26 days ago, in spite of the destruction of 1000 of their troops daily. Moscow report's that Russian warships operating in the Baltic Sea sank two enemy transports. The Russians at Rzhev, according to a Moscow message, repulsed German counter-attacks which were made with one infantry- division and one tank division—both consisting of fresh troops—in an effort to cut off the Soviet troops in the outskirts of the city. The Russians not only threw back the Germans, but captured a block of houses. Rzhev is reported to be ablaze, with hardly a single house escaping the flames.