Decisive Hour Near For Stalingrad

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 199, 24 August 1942, Page 3

Decisive Hour Near For Stalingrad

TITANIC STRUGGLE Russians Brave Hazards On Fire-Swept Steppes (U.P.A. and British Official Wireless.— Rec. 1 p.m.) Report, from Mo,cow emphasj"V' near ,n ,he battle for Stalingrad, on the approache?'^ which a titanic struggle ,s being waged. The Russian, are giving ground som, places under tremendous German pressurf .ppart'-'IyT. 9 ,' tnlfoT ""■? .long a considerable stretch of the "ver but ?„T '"""""l RuMians have & e h Re iter s Moscow correspondent says bitter fighting is nro Meding in one sector north-east of Kotelnikovo, o Stalingrad, where, after a series of persistent att.rl.T r with tanks and motorised infantry broke through i'J .1 J™ 1 ? of the Russian defences. The stiuasle hit £ d ": Plh midday on Saturday with the Cerman'Sbetag bo* Hank, and trying to get reinforcement, through. German infantry detachments of tommy-gunner, which ST j Cro '""S '» 'he east bank of tL Do" opposite Stalingrad are reported to haye been pinned on the bank since Saturday eyen.ng by intense Russian shelling and bombing The German H.gh Command has announced that German troops have taken up the offensive south-westward of Kaluga where the Germans have succeeded in driving a large wedee into strongly fort.fied Russian positions. Russian counter-attacks on a broad front were repelled. atiacKs on I t TJ 16 C,ern \ a " communique says Russian thrusts in the Rjev Lake Ilmen and Leningrad areas .have been repulsed.

Heat Wave West of Volga Although the German attacks in the Stalingrad sector have I?" • m -n e L s ?" th - west . is thought in London that the Russians are still holding the enemy. In the Don bend where violent fighting is reported, the Germans, despite eve? effort, have not increased their foothold on the east bank. There has been a further advance towards the Russian Black Sea base of Novorossisk, but generally speaking the advance everywhere in the Caucasus has been very much slowed down. Describing the fighting north-east of Kotelnikovo, a Moscow message says that the weather is very hot. Rivulets and lakes are dried up and drinking water is precious. Bursting shells and the heat are setting fire to the brush on the steppes, allowing the Germans to strike behind a screen of fire and smoke. Braving the hazards and using water only to revive those who collapse, the Russians are repulsing attack after attack.

The Moscow newspaper Pravda, also describing these battles, says that only a red sun has reminded the troops that it was Army has suffered torture, but has firmly Uk- j* Tongues of flame began to lick the trenches, and behind a screen of smoke and fire surged enemy tanks and tommy gunners. On orders from their commanders. Red Army men rose from the bottom of their trenches and fired, the steppe being strewn with German corpses.

The newspaper Izvestia says the Germans are holding a narrow line on the east bank of the Don south-east of Kletskaya, but Soviet counter-attacks are preventing the enemy widening the line. Baby tanks brought by the Qermans to the east bank were destroyed, and fighting is raging along the west bank as the Germans try to find a weak spot in the defences. The enemy is hurling masses of tanks and planes into the battle on this narrow sector.

Successful Soviet actions in the Caucasian mountain passes have prevented an enemy drive in other sectors. In an unnamed vital settlement persistent attacks made by the Germans against the Soviet forces defending a valley led to penetration of the entire Soviet defences. The Germans then turned and struck from the rear. The Russians gave battle and stopped the enemy everywhere, out were forced to abandon the valley. Fierce fighting continues.