DEFEAT BEFORE STALINGRAD

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23849, 19 January 1943, Page 5

DEFEAT BEFORE STALINGRAD

PLIGHT OF GERMAN DIVISIONS

RUSSIANS CAPTURE LAST AIRFIELD

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 8 p.m.)

LONDON, Jan. 17,

Before Stalingrad the Russians are continuing to smash the remnants of the beleaguered Germans. They have taken the only remaining airfield in the area.

The plight of the Germans in the Stalingrad area is underlined by the supplement to Sunday’s Soviet.morning communique, which states: “The Russians continue to annihilate the surrounded enemy in the Stalingrad factory area. Russian troops dealt a strong blow against the enemy and occupied several streets .in the southern outskirts of the city. They also dislodged the enemy from some important heights.” The German defeat at Stalingrad is not only the greatest defeat the German army has yet suffered in this war, but it is also a personal defeat for Hitler, who has assumed command of the German armed forces. Even the' German people must sense some loss of prestige here by the Fuehrer. The German loss of arms and equipment of every tyne has been colossal. The Russians’ victory in the battle for Stalingrad is the most complete and crushing victory that either side has so far gained in the whole campaign. The Stalingrad offensive against the German “armed prisoners of war” has reduced the original opposing force .of more than 200,000 to what an agency correspondent on the Stalingrad front describes as “a minimum of 60,000 starving, cold, and sick men.” “Armed Camp of War Prisoners”

A correspondent of the "Daily Express” has just completed a 14 days tour of the Stalingrad front. He flew half-way round the German forces encircled there and interviewed General Malinovsky in a Cossack village near the Don far to the west of Stalingrad. General Malinovsky said: “The German armies encircled before Stalingrad are nothing more than an armed camp of war prisoners. Their position is hopeless. They cannot be relieved.” General Kocelkov, interviewed at Kotelnikov said; “We shall annihilate the trapped German forces before Stalingrad. The terms we can offer them now are to surrender or to dig their’ own graves and' prepare their own crosses.”

A German pilot shot down when trying to fly bread to the trapped army said: “They do not know in Germany that the German army is surrounded before Stalingrad.” The pilot revealed that German aeroplanes on December 12 drppped pamphlets to the trapped force, bearing the message: “Hitler has not forgotten you. Hold on. You will be 'relieved on Christmas Day.” The correspondent states that the victory is really a triumph for ColonelGeneral Yeremenko, commander on the Stalingrad front, whose skill, courage, and leadership converted the monstrous enemy siege of Stalingrad into a grave danger for the whole of the Axis divisions. Fearless and ironwilled, he appeared in the most dangerous places at the worst periods of defence. Wounded and still limping from a leg injury, he continued personally to direct operations.

General Yeremenko was born ' in 1892. His wife and their youngest son were killed by the Germans at the beginning of this war. He-is responsible for the strategy of encircling the 22 German divisions and of the subsequent operations against them.

ADVANCE DOWN THE DON

COMMANDER DESCRIBES OPERATIONS

(8.0. W.) RUGBY, Jan. 17. “I like the way the British fight. They smoke their pipes during a battle. They never run and they shave every morning," said General Malinovsky, who commands the Soviet Army driving towards Rostov between the river Sal and the Manich Canal, in an interview with British and American correspondents who visited Kotelnikov and Zimovniki the day after they were recaptured. ' . ; General Malinovsky is a Ukrainian, aged 44, who has been a professional soldier since the Russian civil war. He said that the Germans were contesting every inch of ground in their retreat. The enemy, \ however, was leaving masses of equipment behind, and his transport moving west was being heavily bombed. Describing recent operations on his part of the front, the General said his army was well equipped and carefully deployed, but it waited for the general offensive to get under way. General von Manstein, however, forestalled the Russiah Army and started his own offensive from Kotelnikov with a force consisting of three tank and three infantry divisions. Possessing altogether 600 tanks, he aimed at joining and rescuing the Germans encircled at Stalingrad and he had initial success. General Malinovsky first retreated, waging a powerful rearguard action; then he checked the enemy advance with a stubborn defensive battle and ended with a powerful counter-blow. He is continuing to advance at present with an enveloping two-wing movement. The left wing is advancing along the Stalingrad-Tikhoretsk railway while the right wing is forming a broad front against Rostov. Discussing the prospects of future progress, General Malinovsky said: “The Germans feel that there is a great threat to Rostov, and are beginning to bring up reinforcements from other fronts. Russian offensive power is preventing the Germans from developing their armoured strength. They have tanks, but are no longer able to use them effectively. "The Red Army has increased in skill. Our infantry are now able to handle 150 tanks at one time. Also, the many Russian offensives on widely separated fronts are compelling the Luftwaffe to disperse its strength.”