SMASHING IN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 221, 18 September 1942, Page 3

SMASHING IN

GERMANS " SATANIC " Axis Sources Claim Fall Of Stalingrad U.P.A. and British Wireless Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON*, Sept. 17. The Vichy radio, quoting a Bucharest report, says Stalingrad has been occupied. This report is not confirmed from any other source. The German Propaganda Ministry, however, told newspapermen to stand by for a "Stalingrad victorv announcement" within 24 hours. The latest Russian advices insist that while the German attacks have reached the outskirts of the city they have been repulsed. A front line dispatch to Izvestia savs: "Seeing the city under their eves, the Germans are satanic with ferocity. They surge forward over thousands of corpses of their own men and past mindreds of smashed German tanks trying to force a wav into the city." Moscow reports says the Russian grip on Rjev. west of Moscow, is daily tightening and the Russians now hold the main airfield on the outskirts and also the barracks for' Rjev's permanent garrison. The Germans are bringing reinforcements up to Rjev, states another Moscow message, as fierce fighting rages on the outskirts of the city. The barracks and city airport, as well as a part of the suburbs, are in Soviet hands. Red airmen are incessantly bombing military objectives inside Rjev. as well as columns of enemy reserves moving up to the approaches. A Helsinki communique states that the Russians on the southern sector of the Finnish front have continued their pressure, brought up new reinforcements and penetrated the third Finnish defence line where they have been brought to a standstill. Reports from Stockholm say that the Russians advancing from the Volkhov area and those from Leningrad pushing to the east have under their fire all the neck of land between them held by the Germans. Shells from Russian long-range guns are falling in Schlusselburg. Another report says the Russians are still making steady progress in the Sinyavino area, south of Schlusselburg, where another fortified enemy point has been reduced and captured. This was due largely to the dash and skill of the Soviet sappers who built a pontoon bridge over a river and cleared a German minefield, enabling the infantry, tanks and artillery to advance.