COMPARATIVE LULL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 November 1942, Page 3

COMPARATIVE LULL

ON MOST PARTS OF RUSSIAN FRONT HARDLY ANY ACTIVITY AT STALINGRAD. SUCCESSFUL SOVIET STAND IN CAUCASUS. LONDON, November 12. The Russians report successful resistance to the Germans both in the central Caucasus, south-east of Nalchik and north-east of Tuapse, on the Black Sea coast. A correspondent says there is a comparative lull over a great part of the Russian front. There is hardlj any activity inside Stalingrad though it is not yet possible to . sa y/ h A l hc Nazis have given up then attempt to take the city this year. The Russians have consolidated their defences. FIERCE FIGHTING RUSSIAN TROOPS, BREAK INTO SHLUSSELBURG. ATTEMPT TO END ISOLATION OF LENINGRAD. LONDON, November 11. A Moscow message states that the Russians have broken into Shlusselburg, 25 miles east of Leningrad, and fierce fighting is going on to decide the future possession of the city. On the outcome the relief or continued isolation of Leningrad will depend. While the Russians at Stalingrad continue to strengthen their defensive positions, the Luftwaffe is operating heavily across the volga to reduce the possibility of a renewed Russian threat against the Germans in the Caucasus. In the central Caucasus the Germans are making strenuous efforts to penetrate the long, broad valleys between Nalchik and Ordjonikidze. Furious battles for heights are being waged north-east of Tuapse and between Tuapse and Novorossisk, with lesults that are generally favouring the Russians.

Winter is taking an ever-increasing part in the Russian campaign. Ice floes are floating down the Volga, the banks of which are already fringed with ice. Winter has firmly gripped Stalingrad, with 15 degrees of frost. Piercing winds from the Urals howl through the broken streets. The most recent German prisoners were wrapped with shawls. Both sides at present are making efforts not so much to ground as to secure winter quarters. The Germans are hammering at the Russian rear behind Stalingrad and, for the first time, are using Henschel reconnaissance planes for systematic bombing of all villages and hamlets in order to destroy winter shelter for the Red Army. Fighting in Staingrad itself at present is limited to sporadic rifle and machinegun fire, but correspondents say an air of expectancy, exists in the Russian lines, where the- men who defended the city for months are preparing for what they believe will be Germany’s last bid completely to overrun Stalingrad before the winter really sets in.

The operations in North Africa dominate the foreign news in the Russian newspapers, and, according to a correspondent, the fact is not lost on the Russian that the campaign will mean, a further drain on the Nazi forces The Russians are waiting for the first signs of German withdrawals.