EXPECTED SOON

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13773, 16 October 1942, Page 5

EXPECTED SOON

BIG OFFENSIVE

Stalingrad Battle

Enemy Regrouping Forces

London. Oct. 15

It is expected that a further big attempt will shortly lie made by the Germans to drive the Russians out of the ruins and rubble which once was Stalingrad. The Germans, says a Moscow correspondent, are regrouping their forces and are building up for a new all-out offensive. Yesterday they lost 23 tanks in an unsuccessful attack on the factory area in the north of the city. Marshal Timoshenko’s forces north-west of Stalingrad are now increasing their pressure on both flanks of the German army which is besieging the city. German forces in the Mozdok area of the Caucasus have inched their way a little closer to their goal at Grosny. Yesterday they drove a wedge into the Soviet positions but it is stated that the enemy attack did not make very deep penetration. There is no late news from the Black Sea front.

The city of Coventry in Britain has sent a special message to the defenders of Stalingrad. Coventry is Britain’s most war-scarred city. The message expresses great admiration for Stalingrad and a feeling of special sympathy for the city’s courage and iron resolve to fight on for victory.

There are clear signs that the Germans on the Stalingrad front are preparing to dig in for the winter, stated an earlier message. It is believed they will establish a winter line from outside Stalingrad south along the Yergent hills, linking up with- the Axis forces on the Terek River, in the eastern Caucasus. German official reports now either admit or imply that German operations in the Stalingrad area have assumed a defensive character. Berlin says the Russians are planning to free Stalingrad by an encircling movement from the south.

Axis reports again mention Russian offensive concentrations in the Rjev and Smolensk areas.

The German communique states that the German army, supported by the Luftwaffe, has captured more dominating chains of heights and mountain positions on the highway from Maikop to Tuapse, in the Black Sea area, and adds: “We repulsed several Russian counterattacks and thrusts from Stalingrad and also on the Don front.” The Tass Agency, quoting reports from Geneva, says von Bock, until recently German commander at Stalingrad, has been arrested. Several German generals, who are the heads of motorised and infantry Corps, have been dismissed and others reduced in rank.