DEEPER GERMAN PENETRATION

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23715, 13 August 1942, Page 5

DEEPER GERMAN PENETRATION

a' • 1' ' (Received August 12, 11 p.m.) (N.Z.PA.) LONDON, August 12. The Germans are thrusting still deeper into the Caucasus, w ith severe pressure on the oil-producing centres ofi the northwest. The Russians now say that enemy forces have reached Cherkesk, half-way between the Black Sea and the Caspian and about 70 miles south-east of Armavir. The latest Soviet communique mentions fierce fighting in the regions of Cherkesk, Maikop, and Krasnodar.

German penetration to Cherkesk opens up a new and dangerous threat, says Mr Paul Winterton, of the London “News Chronicle,” in a dispatch to the 8.8.C, Near Cherkesk a comparatively new military highway crosses the Caucasus mountains to the Black Sea port of Sukhum, 200 miles south of Novorossiisk. He adds that many Russian troops are being evacuated from the Black Sea coast in the Novorossiisk area. Along the Caucasus foothills the position is confusing. Dispatches from Moscow state that the German forces are apparently thrusting west, south, and east wherever the panzers find that they can get through. At the moment the drive from Krasnodar to the Black Sea in the Novorossiisk area seems to be making most progress. The Germans here are throwing in enormous reserves, constantly attacking in spite of heavy losses. The Soviet communique states that Russian troops in the Krasnodar area took up new positions after an enemy break-through.

There is no official Russian news of the advance towards Grosnyi, although it is thought that the Germans are trying to occupy the entire line across to the Caspian Sea. The Berlin radio claims that German advanced units have entered Georgievsk.

• The Stockholm correspondent of '"nil Times” says the spearhead of the German drive eastwards from Armavir is reported to have by-passed the Mineralniyevody-Georgeivsk junction, and turned south-east into the Spa district, which is connected with the main Rostov-Baku railway by an electrified branch railway. The Vichy radio has declared that the spearhead of the German column from Krasnodar is now 40 to 50 miles from Novorossiisk. Advanced units of another column from Maikop are 30 miles from Tuapse. The German forces which occupied Pyatigorsk passed Prokladnaya, where they split. One group is now in the Mozdok region and the other near the industrial centre of Ordzhonikidze, 50 miles south-west of Grosnyi. The Russians admit a further withdrawal near Armavir on the CaspianBlack Sea railway, and there is evidence that the main strength of the 17th German Army has been brought up to about the line of this railway. There' is, however, no confirmation of the German claims to have occupied completely the Maikop oilfields. Russian sources claim that German attacks

in this area have been consistently repulsed.

>• A German communique claims that Russians in the Maikop area have been thrown back in several sectors into the mountains.

German units are operating towards the Black Sea ports and there is news of the activities of aircraft over three ports, including Novorossiisk and Anapa. The Germans claim to have sunk several transports carrying Russian troops.