SMALL ATTACKS IN RUSSIA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23799, 19 November 1942, Page 5

SMALL ATTACKS IN RUSSIA

GERMANS MAKE NO PROGRESS SOVIET OFFENSIVE PREDICTED (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 18. To-day's Russian communique refurther unsuccessful enemy attacks at Stalingrad and in the Caucasus, The attacks at Stalingrad were on a small scale, supported by a few tanks, and all were thrown back. North-west of Stalingrad the Russians have repulsed a number of enemy attacks, wiping out two enemycompanies. In the Central Caucasus, southeast of Nalchik, the Russians repelled an attack by an enemy regiment, supported by tanks. The enemy lost heavily in men and tanks. North-east of the Black Sea coast North-east of the Black Sea port of Tuapse, Soviet scout units routed a number of guns. In fighting on the Leningrad front the Germans succeeded in penetrating Russian positions at some points, but were later driven back. The Russian front is quieter than for months, but the lull is deceptive according to German sources, which claim that the Russians are preparing a heavy offensive between Moscow and Leningrad. The Russians are repeatedly referring to gains in the Caucasus. The fighting at Stalingrad is at present local, although it is fierce and bitter. The fighting appears to be centred in the southern part of the city instead of in the northern factory area. German attacks against the industrial forts are waning, and the operations north-west of the city have been confined to raids. Gains in Caucasus Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says: “The Russians in the Nalchik area are retaking village after village as they push back the German spearhead. “Reports from the supposedly stable sectors of the long Russian front indicate that local actions are constantly being waged. For instance, the Russian Navy in the Black Sea is harassing and smashing German communications, and patrols on the Kalinin front are regularly raiding the enemy’s rear. The Russians are expected to launch a big winter offensive soon, according to reports from Moscow. In what sector the attack will begin is a secret, but in the last week powerful Russian forces are reported to have been massing at a point between Stalingrad and Rzhev, “The Germans are expecting the Russian offensive to come from below Lake Ilmen or between Lake Ilmen and Lake Ladoga, where the Rurrians are accumulating foyces,” says the. Moscow correspondent of "The Times.” “The Germans are also reporting that the reads and railways feeding the Sinyavino sector, south of Leningrad, have recently been much more active. “Irrespective of whether the Germans are able to strengthen all the threatened sectors between Leningrad and the Caucasus, they are certainly worried about transport, because the distances to the southern front have been greatly extended. The prohibition of private Christmas parcels for German troops is one minor but significant measure adopted to relieve the strain,” Commenting on the reports of an impending offensive, the military correspondent of the “Daily Express” says that Hitler is liable to find himself with air inferiority in the sector where M. Stalin strikes. Hitler’s difficulty is that he is losing aircraft faster than he can replace them. The military writer of the “Yorkshire Post” says that the great German trek to the Caucasus has been halted. A significant pointer is that Turkey has stopped the transfer of troops to her Caucasus front. Turkey had been sending troops there since the Germans began approaching the Caucasian-Turkish frontier. The Soviet newspaper “Red Star” reports that the onset of the Russian winter has caught the Germans in some sectors unprepared. Conditions are very severe at Voronezh, but the Germans have been taken prisoner there wearing summer uniforms and shoddy footwear. The prisoners declared that warmer clothing and better boots had not yet been issued because the German High Command had anticipated a milder and later winter.