Position Considered Precarious

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23743, 15 September 1942, Page 5

Position Considered Precarious

FIERCE FIGHTING CONTINUES v i v (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, September 14. Fierce fighting continued before Stalingrad during the night. 1 here is no Russian confirmation of German claims to have reached the outskirts of Stalingrad. A German communique claims that Axis forces stormed aeveral positions at the edge of Stalingrad and penetrated the loulhern part of the city. The Russians are losing some ground west of Stalingrad and also south-west of the city, but the Germans are not making sufficient progress to achieve any sudden crumpling of the defences of Stalingrad. The position nevertheless remains precarious for the Russians. They are subject to constant attacks by tanks and aeroplanes, and they must be over-strained after four weeks of the most intense battling, yet they are hanging on and making the enemy pay most heavily. The Soviet Sunday night communique states: “On Sunday our troops were engaged in fighting west and south-west of Stalingrad, and in the region of Mozdok, as well as in the Slnyavino area on the Volkhov river. There are no important changes elsewhere.” The Germans west and south-west of Stalingrad launched between 30 and 40 attacks in the 24 hours at the week-end, but. failed to break through on any large scale. The Germans followed up their capture of a settlement south-west of Stalingrad with three attacks, all of which were repelled with heavy- losses.

The Moscow correspondent of ‘‘The Times” says the Russians are fighting with the utmost assurance before Stalingrad, holding their positions until they are ordered to withdraw. The Berlin radio, quoting the German High Command, stated to-night that the German troops round Stalingrad were working their way step by step tn the outskirts of the city. Violent battles had developed In a factory area, where every house was made a strong point Implications of Fronts The all-out drive of the Germans for bitterly-defended Stalingrad, coupled with the determined assaults of the Russians against the enemy’s strongholds In the Rzhev sector, as well as the approach of the Russian winter, combine to make the next few weeks anxious for both sides in Russia, Berlin has admitted that the Rzhev struggle is very important for the safety of the German armies engaged at Stalingrad. Moscow has pointed out that the German armies in the northern Caucasus are not safe so long as Stalingrad stands. Dispatches from Stockholm and Moscow suggest that a German defeat at Rzhev and German failure to take Stalingrad could influence the outcome of the whole war, \ well as provide the most cheerful I) or jpiiyj for the winter for the Allied prions. , A , ;euter's Moscow correspondent says; Stalingrad holds the German ar- * mies in the northern Caucasus will be semi-prisoners between the Kuban mud northwards and westwards ana the snow-blocked mountains to the south. The Russians will be able to pour in troops through the Stalingrad gap while their Caucasian armies are enabled to turn on the Germans, who will no longer hold the advantages of mobility, The stakes in the Stalingrad battle are enormous —whoever wins, the other wIR be immensely weakAt points west and south-west of Stalingrad the Russians have been compelled to withdraw slightly, but no break-through is reported, and there is no confirmation of the German claim to have penetrated the defences to the south of the city. One village in the west changed hands three times before the Russians withdrew. To the south-west the Germans penetrated the Russian positions, but were hurled back to their original line. Reuter's correspondent from Moscow describes the gigantic struggle for Stalingrad as a battle of extermination. The Germans have made costly progress yard by yard. In the last five days five villages have been abandoned by the Russians in the western sector and several others have been given up to the south-west of the city. Heavy Enemy Losses The German losses have been so heavy that they have been compelled to change their tactics. Their tanks are. now advancing In wedge formation with heavy tanks as the spearhead and-medium tanks and armoured cars on the flanks. The steppe west of Stalingrad is bounded by hills and gullies, and the Red Army is contesting every inch of ground in face of increasing enemy pressure, and is launching frequent counter-attacks. “Red Star” reports that as the result of these counterattacks Soviet troops broke into an enemy stronghold, The Germans are hastily constructing defences round every strip of captured territory. These defences serve as points for the concentration of enemy forces in preparation for further attacks and also as a protection against Soviet counter-thrusts. In the air, large-scale dogfights and raids on troop concentrations are taking place. On one sector of the Stalingrad front there have been 55 air battles in the last three days, result- . Ing in 46 enemy aircraft being destroyed. In addition 15 Axis aeroplanes were burned on an aerodrome and others were damaged. Tank battles in this area have also been on a large scale, with hundreds of machines participating on either tide. The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph" says the latest German reinforcements reaching the Stalingrad front include Major-General Roth’s entire tank army from the Kalitun front. Enemy Withdrawal in Mountains German activity is lessening in the eastern Caucasus. The enemy forces in some areas are reported to bo retreating northwards and north-westwards. Small bands of the Red Army are V harassing them with Tommy-guns frohrthe flanks, Russian resistance in me Novorossiisk area and also on the Terek river is very bitter. The position on the Terek remains complicated, but the Germans have not penetrated further towards Grozny!, At the Black Sea end of the Caucasus, on the narrow coastal sector around Novorossiisk, the Germans are now pushing forward towards their next objective, the port of Tuapse. The Moscow radio reported that the enemy had begun to withdraw from the mountains near Mozdok after heavy losses had been inflicted on them in ambushes. Another message says the Germans have been compelled to withdraw from defence positions in the high mountains beyond Mozdok, where the first ( Snows are falling. On the Mozdok front, where they have been pinned to the south bank of the Terek river, the Germans seem to have received reinforcements and they launched a big attack in an endeavour to break through the Russian ring. However, the attack failed completely, and the enemy was thrown back to his original positions. Moscow message states that Soviet poops, with artillery assistance, are

making every effort to wipe out enemy forces on the south bank of the Terek river. Yesterday the GermaMLmade a desperate attempt to crush fire Soviet batteries, hurling against them every available tank. The Soviet artillerymen, however, succeeded in destroying 26 tanks and forced the remainder to turn back towards the river. The Red Army advanced on two sectors on this front, where fierce fighting has been raging for the mountain passes and villages. On one sector the Germans are withdrawing north, mining the path of their retreat. The recent burning of the Maikop oilfields was described by the Moscow radio. The speaker said that when German tanks approached Maikop the night was lit by the flames from the blazing wells. Two days before, Maikop had been evacuated and all possible equipment had been taken away. The oil and equipment were loaded on to railway waggons, lorries, and even 'horse-drawn carts. What could not be removed was consigned to the flames. Russian Northern Offensive The new Russian offensive near Sinyavino continues. The Moscow correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph” says the Russians, attacking in the Sinyavino area, smashed through the first and second German defence zones and captured a. number of fortified villages. The Russians are fighting fiercely in order to relieve Leningrad before the winter. Moscow announces that in spite of. heavy enemy counter-attacks and also rain, the Russians continue to advance in the Sinyavino sector, south of Schluesselburg. The Germans here are bringing up reinforcements by land and air. The Importance the Germans attach to the fighting at Sinyavino can be gauged from their massive counterattacks, which have already cost them 5000 men. ■ The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” reports that forces inside and outside the beleaguered Leningrad area are participating in the Russian offensive on the Volkhov front, The Russians within the Leningrad area do not appear to be lacking guns and munitions. The great Kirov armament works have been, busy manufacturing from large stocks of materials and also from supplies brought in across Lake Ladoga and by aeroplane. The Germans have launched heavy counter-attacks in the area where they are tryfhg to hold a short section of the vital railway linking Leningrad with the rest of Russia. The enemy fortified p short section of the railway, with the result that supplies to, Leningrad have had to come over Lake Ladoga, by water in the summer and over the ice in the winter. Fighting ut Rzhev According to the Berlin radio, the Russians are using four or five armies against the Germans at Rzhev. Ihe German soldiers there know that on their resistance depends our success in the south. They are fighting and dying where they stand, others fill the gaps. Firing never ceases and bombing goes on continuously. There is scarcely a piece of earth which does not show signs of the battle.” The Geimans on the central front suffered a severe set-back in the fighting for an important township. The Russians attacked the township on Friday. and the Germans counter-attacked jn Saturday with 90 tank’s and infantry. They lost 49 tanks, in addition to a large number of troops. The Russians also gained a tactically important village and a bridgehead, ensuring their progress in a neighbouring sector. On one sector of the central front fighting for an important locality took place, and 18 enemy, tanks were destroyed. and more than 1000 enemy troops were killed. Messages .from Moscow make it Clear that in spite of heavy German counter-attacks and the rain which is now falling, the Russian advance in this front is not halted. The Germans are reported to be bringing up reinforcements by land and air. Russian marines have made a surpris* landing on the enemy*occupied coast in the Arctic. Latest messages from Moscow sav that the fighting there is still in progress. Landings were made from gunboats, and heavy casualties were inflicted on the enemy. Eleven enemv guns were destroyed. Further details are not yet available. The British United Press correspondent in Moscow says 15.000 enemy troops have been killed on the Russian front in the last few days. Two-thirds of them died in the battle for Stalingrad. A Soviet communique states; "Last week 415 German aeroplanes were shot down In aerial combat, destroyed on the ground, or brought down by antiaircraft fire. In the same period 281 Soviet aeroplanes were destroyed. Our naval units in the Baltic Sea sank an enemy transport of 10,000 tons.” ' • Russian Journalist in Australia.—M. Vladimar Mikhaiv, aged 35. a Russian journalist, has arrived in Australia to establish a branch of Tass. the Russian official news agency. He is accompanied by his wife.—Sydney, September 14.