Stalingrad Battle

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23751, 24 September 1942, Page 5

Stalingrad Battle

RUSSIANS MORE CONFIDENT

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, September 23. The Germans are being fought on two fronts at Stalingrad, v jjaide the city they are making a little costly progress. Soviet gpafds have crossed the Volga by night to reinforce the garrison. Outside the city the enemy was pressed back, and the Russians eut an important road. To-day’s Soviet communique mentions merely fighting in the Stalingrad and Mozdok areas. A supplement states that in the Stalingrad area streets and houses changed hands several limes. Enemy infantry, supported by 100 tanks, succeeded in pressing Russian units back in one sector, and gained several Streets. On other sectors the enemy made no progress. In a northern sector of the city several German tanks were damaged in an armoured clash. North-west of the city German attacks have continued, but all have been repulsed. The Russians are apparently more confident that Stalingrad a a be held. Russian newspapers give prominence to the order • of the day to the Stalingrad garrisons: “Exhaust the enemy in street battles on the outskirts, and thus prepare conditions for the enemy’s final defeat. We must hold Stalingrad.” In the Caucasus the Germans are reported to be using big tank and infantry forces in new attacks on the south bank of the Terek river. An official Russian report says Soviet riflemen repulsed an attack made by 40 German tanks and infantry.

Tb« Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says: “While the German shock troops are gradually being cleared from the streets of Stalingrad the RusAm outside the city continue to have wnredable successes. The main battle li still being fought outside Stalingrad, where violent tank battles are taking place ihe Germans have not advanced for several days. Two heavy German attacks collapsed to-day. “Other fighting continues a fair distance from Stalingrad, where the Rusaians are attacking with the utmost ferocity among piles of shattered guns and unburied dead.” \ The Russians gained ground in coun-ter-attacks on several sectors, the most spectacular being an advance of a mile and a half by a Russian Guards unit, which wheeled to assault the Germanheld area from the flank. The supplement to Tuesday’s Russian communique states that in several sectors the defenders have pushed forward, destroying many tanks, and destroying or silencing eight artillery batteries. Several streets have been recaptured. Bitter battles continue to ■ be fought for every house, from cellar to attic, where German sub-machine-gun men are being systematically mopped up. Street. Fighting The street fighting is described in agency reports as "an unimaginable hell.” Stalingrad’s big gun duels are reproduced in miniature in a thousand street corner and backyard battles, with bayonet, rifle butt, hand grenade, and tommy-gun. The Russians rushed one German-occupied four-storey building, killed the machine-gunners guarding the entrance, and then captured the building floor by floor, the Germans through the - Into the street. 'J' dßfebf terrible ferocity are raging and night in the built-up area, ■lnto which the Germans smashed six days ago. Tommy-gunners, grenadiers, and riflemen stalk each other among the ruined and blazing buildings, A smoke pall Is thick over the city, which the Luftwaffe is hammering incessantly. Nevertheless, the Russians continue to construct a defence honeycomb, linking up buildings by tunnels, reinforcing buildings, and storing food and water so that small garrisons will be able to hold out if surrounded. In the north-western suburbs, where the Germans made their deepest pene - tration, fighting is still fierce. Berlin speaks of difficult weather conditions and of bitter resistance.

tinuous, but both sides have blocked all open country with strong points. The Germans captured an inhabited locality in the Mozdok area in a heavyattack, supported by 100 tanks, but the Russians are generally holding firm in the Caucasus. In spite of heavy losses the Germans occupied a height. Voronezh and Sinyavino Fronts The resistance of the Germans has stiffened on the Voronezh and Sinyavino fronts where they are violently counter-attacking. The Russians advanced further north-west of Voronezh after beating off four counter-attacks. They also repulsed eight counterattacks in the city area. Fighting is unabated in the Voronezh region, where, according to front linp dispatches, the Russians, in spite of intense enemy fire, made a new crossing of the Don, and, repelling counterattacks, continued to press on, capturing a number of positions. The Moscow radio to-day said the Russians in this area captured a “very important” position, and that heavy fighting-continued. The Tass Agency says the Germans lost 3000 men in four counter-attacks north of Voronezh when attempting to retake lost ground. The Russians have also broken frequent counter-attacks south of Voronezh. On the north-west front, the Russians penetrated the enemy defence line in one locality, and pushed forward, repelling counter-attacks and capturing booty. A German High Command statement, describing a battle lasting all day south of Rzhev, says the Russians broke through in two places, but the Germans, after very fierce fighting, restored the position. The Germans continue their determined efforts to thwart the Russian plans for driving a “winter road” to Leningrad. The Russians repulsed several counter-attacks in the Sinyavino area. - The Russians recaptured an important height on the Karelian Isthmus after a forced march. Russian partisans are active, and in one White Russian district have blown up two miles of railway track. Reported Recall of von Bock The Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” reports that Marshal von Bock has been recalled to Berlin. He has been seen in Berlin wearing civilian clothes. According to the Stockholm newspaper, “Svenska Dagbladet,” Marshal von Bock was dismissed a fortnight ago after a sharp difference with Hitler. Marshal von Bock wanted to concentrate on the Caucasus, and not attack Stalingrad simultaneously, arguing that Stalingrad would be too costly in casualties.

Both sides are steadily bringing up reinforcements. The Germans continue to bring up tommy-gunners in transport'aeroolanes. The bulk of the Russian reinforcements is apparently concentrating in the • Kachalinskaya and Dubovka areas for a renewed assault against the Germans from the north The Germans have withdrawn a number of, regiments to the rear for reformation, simultaneously throwing in fresh reserves in an effort to end the deadlock. The Red Air Force is still hitting back. Almost 700 German aeroplanes have been destroyed in the Stalingrad region in the last fortnight. The Russians are using heavy armoured trains within and outside Stalingrad. They recaptured one suburban railway station with an armoured train. A hugß air battle has flared up, according to Moscow press messages, the Russians apparently having thrown in a s ]? aircraft. There have been 55 oogflghts in a single sector in the last three days, the Russians destroying 69 aeroplanes. ..The autumn is unusually cold along the whole front. The troops engaged at Stalingrad are freauently drenched by jcy showers and chilled by bitter winds. parallel between the Russian front ini -a Western Front of the last war intensifies as the wet autumn slows gown movement on all sectors, and Stalingrad’s resemblance to Verdun becomes more marked. TTie Russian front i*® ven bmes the length of the Western front. The defence works are not con-

According to a message from Stockholm. “Schwarze Korps,” the journal of the Nazi Black Guards, admits that some Germans have been withdrawn from Russia to meet the threat of a second front. The joprnal states that all the men transferred were relieved to get away from Russia. After the terrible Russian winter they were happy to go anywhere.

hope of second FRONT

RUSSIAN REPLY TO FINLAND

WORDING OF ALLIED COMMUNIQUE h_ NEW YORK Sept. 22 The Washington correspondent of the f e w York Times" (Mr Arthur Krock) !fX? : .The British authorities have permitted publicatio.i of the fact that Mr rt™!' chlll and Mr Eden expressed oou&ts to Mr Roosevelt about a sendee in the joint British and American communique on June 12. announcing '" at a full understanding had been reached on the urgency of creating a front in Europe in 1942. They oeoated over the radio telephone the jwm of this sentence, to which has Sf en ascribed the disappointment of J? * pussi* ■ armies and people that no rv ffVSißJßAmerican invasion of the «n\X^^ S been attempted. th« -b? surmised in Washington that we British want the public to know SiV fl any i unfulfill ed optimism which the i!il«j j gy has aroused was appreJL e "£ ed at the time by the British Gov5, ™£ n *• Nevertheless, such vague imtoi. s as the communique conveyed were not left with M. Molotov or his S° f a 6ues in Moscow or with the nov) Ambassador to Britain (M. Litvip3l? best explanation is that the president was deliberately indulging hav» ¥?R. ot nerv es, which the Nazis a««f hitherto monopolised, when he approved of the communique's langu-

(Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 22,

A Russian Embassy information bulletin challenges the Finnish contentions that Finland’s war aims are not connected with Germany, and that Finland is fighting a purely defensive war. Recalling early reports that Finnish soldiers were fighting in the Don elbow, the Russian bulletin states that the “Frankfurter Zeitung” boasted that a whole Finnish brigade was fighting on the Don. MR WILLKIE’S VISIT TO MOSCOW LONDON. Sept. 22. The Moscow public has not shown much interest in the visit of Mr Wendell Willkie, partly because of absorption in the war, and also from lack of knowledge of his role. Nevertheless his talks are calculated to help in avoiding misunderstandings. .It is learned that his conversations with M. Molotov were most comprehensive.

British Cost of Living Index.—On September 1 the British official cost of living index figure was 100 points above tha level of July, 1914, compared with 101 points above that level a month earlier. For food alone, the index figure remained unchanged at 60 points above the level of July, 1914. — Rugby, September 22.