STILL IN BALANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 October 1942, Page 4

STILL IN BALANCE

THE TITANIC STRUGGLE FOR STALINGRAD

AFTER SIXTY DAYS OF BATTLE. POSITION VERY CRITICAL. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.0 p.m.) LONDON, October 20. The titanic battle for Stalingrad is in its sixtieth day, and the issue is still in the balance, but the Russians’ position is daily becoming more tense. “The Times” Moscow correspondent says a break in the weather has limited air activity, but is not hampering the enemy’s ground forces. Strong tank forces are battering at the northern industrial region with undiminished violence, and the defenders clearly are very hard pressed.

Each fresh attack is preceded by two to three hours of concentrated bombing, accompanied by a mortar and artillery barrage. Nevertheless, each day in which the Russians stand firm seriously reduces the Wehrmacht’s chances of developing subsequent successes, and also has a significant effect on the Allies’ entire strategical situation. Stalingrad is as much a bastion of the Middle East as of Central Russia. The issue of the whole Stalingrad battle hangs dangerously in the balance, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. If the Germans once instal themselves in the northern part of the city the position in the centre will become most precarious. General Rodimtsev’s Guards have not yet said their last word, but the situation still looks very critical. The Vichy radio declared that ■ the battle for Stalingrad has reached its culminating point. The Germans have laid down on the Red October works, the last bastion of Russian resistance, the heaviest bombardment Stalingrad has ever seen. The Rome radio claimed that the Germans had captured the last bridge across the Volga to Northern Stalingrad. “The Times” Moscow correspondent says that, in addition to the gigantic battle on the banks of the Volga, which spreads for many miles westwards and encircles Stalingrad in a large arc, a no less momentous battle is being fought out on the river itself. Stalingrad’s fate depends on its supply lines. The defenders require hundreds of tons of shells, bullets and food daily. Every type of craft has' been mobilised for the battle of the Volga crossings. A motley

flotilla is manned by naval cadets, pensioners, gardeners, fishermen and women. They stick to their jobs and feed the battle's insatiable maw with the greatest fortitude. It is the spirit with which one day all Russia hopes the people of Britain will mobilise their strength and courage to feed armies across the water.

GERMAN CLAIMS POSITION OF RUSSIANS HOPELESS IN BELEAGURED STALINGRAD FACTORIES. (Received This Day. 1.10 p.m.) LONDON, October 20. The Berlin radio said that groups of Russian riflemen, entrenched in cellars and buried under masses of masonry, are still holding out in the ruins of the Red Barricade Factory. They are being destroyed or forced to surrender. The position of the defenders of the Red October Works, it is added, has become hopeless. The German occupation of further stretches of the Volga bank has completely stopped the arrival of Russian reinforcements. Women and children who were forced to stay in the centre of the fighting area inside Stalingrad are still emerging from their hiding places amongst the ruins. The Berlin radio also stated that continuous rain on the central sector of the Russian front was flooding trenches and dugouts and making roads impassable, but that the Russians continue to attack German advanced positions.

The “Izvestia” said that Russian blows in the Sinyavino sector (southeast of Leningrad) are increasing in force from day to day. One German division after another is being crushed.

The Tass Agency, quoting an Istanbul report, says that General Guderian is believed to have been killed on the Russian front. The German High Command is hushing up the news, but it is pointed out that Guderian's name has disappeared from the newspapers in the past four months.