RUSSIAN ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 October 1942, Page 3

RUSSIAN ATTACKS

PRESSED NIGHT & DAY IN SPITE OF RAIN & SNOW. SUCCESSFUL ANTI-TANK TACTICS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.45 a.m.) RUGBY, October 22. Moscow messages says the steppes in the Stalingrad region are swept by rain and occasional snowstorms, but the Russians are attacking night and day, northwest of the city. The battle has broken up into countless skirmishes for heights and vantage points. The Germans have thoroughly fortified their positions, using heights to command the approaches to villages and crossroads. The rain has not damped the fury of the fighting, but is interfering with mechanised warfare, as the surface of the roads has been washed

away. Stockholm reports say the renewed Russian attacks are occupying the chief interest in Berlin, where the might of men and machines striving to roll up the German line is stressed. East of Novorossisk- the Germans appear to be still attacking. There have been heavy snowfalls in the mountains. There is little news from the Mozdok area, but the following description of German tactics is given in a Moscow message: “After weeks of heavy tank losses, caused by Russian artillery and anti-tank rifles, the Germans have sharply reduced the scale of their tank operations. German tanks take up initial positions three or four miles from the front lines, with guards on the lookout for tank hunters with their armour-piercing bullets. The Germans simulate mass tank. attacks to draw Soviet artillery fire and then withdraw the main body of their tanks and throw in infantry. In one sector tanks attacked Soviet positions and turned back in face of heavy fire. After a short interval the real assault was made by motorised infantry, supported by only five tanks. This was repulsed with heavy losses. The Soviet infantry, with armour-piercing twoman rifles, not only meet German lank attacks with volleys from the trenches, but go out hunting tanks on light trucks. One sergeant crippled six tanks in four hours. The infantry attack German tanks even with ordinary rifles.”. BIG RUSSIAN TANK

DESCRIBED BY GERMANS.

CREW OF NEARLY THIRTY MEN.

LONDON, October 21

A message from Stockholm says that German panzer officers have brought to Berlin reports about a new Russian tank, which is armed with several cannon and machine-guns and carries a crew of nearly 30 men.