ISSUE OF VITAL BATTLE IN DOUBT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 298, 17 December 1942, Page 5

ISSUE OF VITAL BATTLE IN DOUBT

KOTEUimVO ARIA

New Russian Offensive

Further North

N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright Rec. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 16. The issue in the violent battle which has developed in the Kotelnikovo region, south-west of Stalingrad, where the Germans are attempting to break through for the relief of von Hoth, is still in doubt. Latest reports indicate that it has failed to develop in favour of the Germans. On the contrary, the Russians are stated to have control of the situation despite the Germans' successes of last week-end.

The Times Moscow correspondent, describing the three-day struggle, says that after carefully choosing the place of attack and skilfully using their forces in rapid and successive thrusts, the Germans seemed to be on the verge of a significanc success, but the Russians, swiftly recovering, concentrated a . sufficiently dense anti-tank gun screen to blunt the enemy thrusts. The Germans launched their original attack with two regiments and 80 tanks, which were soon badly mauled. Meanwhile, strong German reserves were concentrated on the Russians' left forcing the defenders to withdraw to lines where they halted ten furious attacks and annihilated German tommy-gunners. Nazi Infiltration Infiltering at night, the Germans on Monday, using a numerically superior tank detachment, again struck in another direction and reached the liver line where artillery covered the concentration of big infantry forces. The Russians were handicapped by incomplete consolidation, but rushed up guards and a mortar unit, which immediately engaged the infantry and drove back some tanks.

Thick mist rolled over the steppe, hindering the Russian gunners and allowing the Germans to thrust in tanks and launch a general attack. A very fierce and sustained battle resulted, in which the Germans established a wedge. Nevertheless, the Russians, holding adjacent sectors and strongly attacking the German flanks, slowly drove the enemy into a trap despite the most pertinacious resistance.

On Tuesday night considerable German forces were gripped as in a vice. The Germans desperately flung in reserves, but the Russians in several places are now in a position to hammer from both sides of the narrow salients into which the Germans were pinched. The Russians elsewhere south-west of Stalingrad have advanced, indicating that German pressure has not forced them on the defensive everywhere. Reds Cross the Don While the Germans are hammering away near -Kotelnikovo, the Russians to the north-west and west of Stalingrad have launched a largescale attack designed to squeeze von Hoth's forces back against Stalingrad. Red Army tank divisions have

crossed the Don from the west and are attacking along a 20-mile front. The heaviest fighting is reported to be around Kachalinsk.

Stalingrad ordinarily has a very dry climate, and the weather there may now be more favourable for movement. Gains West of Rjev Reuters correspondent at Moscow reports that the Russians captured several more' German strongpoints west of Rjev. Each house was a pillbox and had to be taken in stubborn, savage fighting before one important point fell into the Russian hands.

> A front line dispatch to the Red Star says that north-west of Stalingrad the exhausted Germans generally remain inactive behind fortified positions. At some points they are regrouping, bringing up reserves and attempting to regain lost positions. The Russians south-west of Nalchik, in the Caucasus, have captured an important vantage point after penetrating a mile deep into the German defences.

The German High Command is reported to be rushing trocps from North Norway to the Murmansk front, says Reuters Stockholm correspondent. Reports from Berlin hint that this may be a prelude to a German attack, but observers in Stockholm are convinced that it is due to fear, or even the certainty, of a forthcoming Russian offensive on the Arctic front.