ENEMY HALTED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 239, 9 October 1942, Page 3

ENEMY HALTED

CAUCASUS THRUST

Fierce Fighting At Rjev And

Leningrad

U.P.A. an«l British Wireless Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 8. In the eastern Caucasus the German thrust towards the Grozny oilfields has been halted at the edge of a mountain village and the Russians have ambushed enemy tanks and driven them back to the outskirts of the town.

The Germans have progressed about 10 miles in the Mosdok area in the past 40 days, and a verv determined effort to reach the Grozny oilfields and the Caspian Sea is expected.

In addition to their bid for the oilfields, the Germans are intensifying their efforts to smash through the hills to Tuapse, the port on the Black Sea coast. The Russians are firmly holding their positions in the Stalingrad and Mosdok areas, according to to-night's Moscow communique. At Stalingrad the Germans are unsuccessfully attacking constantly with large concentrations of tanks and infantry. South-west of Novorossisk an entire Rumanian division has been thrown into the battle. The Russian defenders have inflicted heavy casualties on this force and captured much booty. The Moscow radio reports tha't a sniper unit belonging to the Soviet Baltic fleet has accounted for 2368 Germans, including 225 in the past three daj r s. Fires Raging at Rjer Fierce fighting has again broken out at Rjev, north-west of Moscow. The Germans have thrown in two fresh infantry and tank divisions in an attempt to cut off the Russians in the outskirts of Rjev, which are reported to be ablaze. Hardly a single house has escaped the flames. The Germans reopened the Rjev offensive on October 2, but so far the Russians have hurled back all attacks and captured a number of fortified points. On the Leningrad front more violent fighting is reported and the Germans are making desperate efforts to regain their lost positions. The enemy has lost many thousands of men in these new clashes. Heavy fighting has again flared up over a wide area of the Voronezh region. The Stockholm correspondent of The Times says beleaguered Leningrad maintains a continual traffic across Lake Ladoga, also by air, principally at night time. Everything is used from obsolescent biplanes to armoured fighters.