The Caucasus

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23752, 25 September 1942, Page 4

The Caucasus

The battle for Stalingrad, which will decide the future of the war in Russia, has overshadowed in recent weeks the fighting on all other sectors of the Russian front. Scarcely of less concern, however, is the battle for the Caucasus, of which reports have lately been consistently meagre. The fighting at both ends of the Caucasus front, on the Black Sea coast to the west, and in the Mozdok area to the east, has warranted fuller reports than have been given it. The issues at stake —whether the Germans shall gain the oil of Baku and Batum, and a road into the heart' of the Middle East—are of supreme concern to the United Nations, and those issues remain important whether Stalingrad falls or not. The Germans achieved a major gain with the capture of the Novorossiisk naval base, thereby greatly hampering the future activity of the Russian Black Sea fleet. Although they were reported- at one stage as pushing on down the coast and over the mountains to the next main port of Tuapse, their advance here in the last week has apparently not been considerable, for the Germans themselves make no claims of progress, and the Russians say the enemy has been held in the mountains. At the eastern end of the front, although Russian reports suggest that the Germans were held up for some time in their attempts to cross the Terek river and drive on to the Groznyi oilfields, it now appears, from Russian admissions as well as German claims, that they are making some progress to the south. The German drive to the oilfields appears to be following the traditional route along the northern flank of the mountains, but whether there is a plan also to drive south across the mountain passes will only become evident from the outcome of the present fighting on the Terek river. This area gives access to the two main roads—the Ossetian and the Georgian military highways —over the high passes to the southern side of the mountains. Unless Russian resistance crumples altogether, and of this there is no sign, the Germans are unlikely to attempt a hazardous mountain campaign so late in the year. The Russian delaying tactics in the Caucasus have at least borne this fruit, even though there is no suggestion that the defenders have been able to launch any form of counteroffensive, or regain any important territory. Tt is significant also that the Germans have been unable to extend their conquest of the area north of the mountains to the Caspian littoral from Astrakhan southwards. One recent report, from Axis sources, spoke of German operations in this area, but still well back from the coast. Only inability to divert forces from other sectors

can have prevented the Germans from occupying this thinly-popu-lated area. In general, the rate of German progress throughout the whole of the Caucasus is vastly slower than it was a few weeks ago, but there can be no doubt that the fall of Stalingrad would enable the Germans greatly to increase their pressure.