NAZIS PRESS ON TO ROSTOV

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 250, 20 July 1942, Page 5

NAZIS PRESS ON TO ROSTOV

Voronezh In Ruins FURIOUS BATTLE RAGING LONDON, July 19. Today’s Moscow communique indicates that the German thrust south to Rostov is still pressing forward and that fighting continues at Voronezh. The communique said that the Russian troops last night fought the enemy at Voronezh and that there were no important changes elsewhere. A supplement to the communique says that in the fighting at Voronezn the Russians continue to press back the enemy slowly, and that in one place Soviet troops penetrated the German first line and captured 35 anti-tank guns. Marshal Timoshenko recaptured several strong points and the enemy has also been driven out of a number of villages in the Voronezh region. The National Broadcasting Company, in a broadcast from Moscow, says Voronezh is in ruins and the population has been evacuated. A Moscow dispatch says that a furious battle is raging at Voronezh, the Germans, in their determination to hold, the bridgehead at all costs, flinging in all available forces, including units from other fronts. The Russians retain the initiative in Voronezh, but find it necessary to fight savagely for every inch. The British United Press correspondent in. Moscow says that Russian-manned American airacobra fighters, participating in the . defence of Voronezh, shot down 38 enemy planes in two days. American Boston and Boeing bombers are also giving a good account of themselves.

There is still no reliable news about the fighting at Voroshilovgrad, the important industrial town in the Donetz Basin, and the Germans have not repeated their claims to have captured it. There is also no further news of the other German move toward Stalingrad and it appears that the German thrust lias slowed down. Last night’s Soviet communique stated : “Ou Saturday our troops continued fighting in the region of Voronezh and south of Millerovo. No important changes took place on other sectors of the front. Our naval units in the Baltic sank a transport of 8000 tons.” Earlier reports showed that while the Russians were at least holding their own in the Voronezh area and even recovering ground in some sectors, the German threat to Rostov was increasing. The Germans are concentrating their strongest forces for a drive down the Voronezh-Rostov railway, and in a coastal advance along the shores of the Sea of Azov they claimed yesterday to have reached a point 10 miles north-west of Rostov. Bierce fighting was reported yesterday at Migulinskaya and between Millerovo and Astachov, which is the eastward limit of the thrust toward Stalingrad. - Vichy radio described the battle in the region of Astachov as exceeding in violence the battle of Kharkov, and added that the Germans had reached Stepanovka, 30 miles south-east of Millerovo. The Russians retreating south-east-ward from Millerovo were subjected to furious and unceasing attacks. The Germans, attempting to drive eastward in the direction of Stalingrad and southward toward Rostov, flung in huge reserves of tanks and infantry. The Germans, in addition to driving €ii frontally, tried successive turning Movements. Soviet Counter-attacks. Moscow messages yesterday said that the Germans at Voronezh were using •ill available reinforcements. The Russians routed a German division south of Voronezh, and endangered German positions in this vital sector. Successful Russian attacks have been made at the extreme north-easterly tip of ■•he Voronezh front. The Germans are redoubling their efforts to take Voronezh by a pincers movement, involving a new crossing of the Bon. The “Red Star” said yesterday that they were pinned down in the north on the western bank, but that in the south they established on Thursday a bridgehead to the eastern \ank, and stubborn fighting was going cn. The Red Army appears to have taken the initiative in some places, and Berlin spoke of repeated Rushan counter-attacks on the bridgehead east of ihe Bon. The Germans were rushing up supplies of concrete and digging in so that the positions might be held. Soutli of Voronezh the position was wore critical, and the Germans brought up more tanks. CONDITIONED BY TIME Huge Task Facing Nazis In Russia (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 18. The pattern of events on the Eastern Front since the German break-through from Kursk was analysed by a wellinformed London observer yesterday as follows:— Von Bock took a big risk when he drove forward on a narrow front toward Voronezh. However, the tremendous weight, and therefore the speed, of the German advance evidently forced Marshal Timoshenko to concentrate his main effort against this frontal assault. While the Russians were putting up a furious resistance against the attempts to cross the Bon, von Bock was able to widen the front of his offensive southward, thus consolidating bis position. The Russians withdrew rapidly, though in good order, behind the Bon from Voronezh to Bogucbar. The weight of the German assault then shifted south, and there is little doubt that this direction was the core of the present offensive. Threat to Eastern Donetz. The apparent objectives are the eastern portion of the Donetz industrial area and Stalingrad, on the CaspianVolga route by which oil and BritishAmerican supplies come. It is understood that both sides have immense forces arrayed along this southern front, and a struggle as ferocious and critical as that in front of Moscow last October has evidently begun. The present effort of the Germans seems devoted to seizing the great elbow of the Bon in order to curve in behind Marshal Timoshenko on the Bonetz. Here is the chief danger point. It seems likely that Marshal Timoshenko's plan is to fall back to stronglyprepared positions along the Lower Don held by fresh troops and tank formations. Though the Germans have deprived Marshal Timoshenko of the imporant lateral Moscow-Voronezh-Rostov railway, they have not yet acquired the. use of it for themselves. The Russians have also lost the rich corn-growing area to the west of I lie Upper Don a nd are threatened with the loss of the industrial and coal-mining area in the eastern Donetz basin. They have never been under any illu-

sions that the German military machine, which they came so near to breaking last winter, could not be refurnished 'by a drastic combing out of German manpower, by coercion of the Nazis’ Balkan satellites and by speeding up armament production in Germany and occupied Europe for a supreme effort this summer. That supreme effort is now being made. If it is to succeed, and Germany’s fate hangs on that, Marshal Timoshenko’s army must be completely disintegrated, the Caucasus and the Volga basin must be conquered, and the armies of the north and centre must be isolated from Archangel and the supply routes from the Urals, and all this before the advent of winter. • lied Army Not Encircled. Though the initial impact of their onslaught carried the Germans forward and placed them in the strategic positions which gravely threaten Marshal Timoshenko, there has been no encirclement of large Russian forces. The Red Army of the South has not been detached from the centre. The German offensive is conditioned by time, the Russian defence is conditioned by space—German time and Russian space are both contracting. All depends on the relative speed of these two contractions, and that is primarily governed by the skill of the Soviet Command in avoiding a decisive fracture in their system of mobile defence and by the equipment at their disposal. That is why British and American supplies are vitally important in this momentous struggle, and why they will be maintained at all hazards, even though that involves a wastage of shipping urgently needed for other enterprises. LULL AT RZHEV New Attack Expected LONDON, July 18. A Moscow message reported yesterfay that there was a lull on the Rzhev front, but that renewal of the attack was expected at any moment. “Red Star” reported that the Russians launched a series of successful counter-attacks on the Bryansk front, and recaptured several localities, where they found 2000 German dead. Russian Stormoviks blasted two German concentrations behind the Bryansk front, wiping out about 5000 troops. In a dispatch from Moscow tlie ‘News-Chronicle" correspondent said yesterday that in addition to digging in west of Voronezh the Germans are also constructing fortifications on the Bryansk front. CONVOYS TO RUSSIA Organization Criticized (Received July 19, 7.30 pan.) LONDON, July 18. The Moscow correspondent of the “Sunday Times” reports that the convoy which he accompanied to Russia suffered severe losses during six days of air attacks. The convoy was singularly poorly escorted and the antiaircraft defences were totally inadequate. A later convoy suffered even heavier losses. Its protection was even more inadequate. There seemed to be something seriously wrong with the organization of these convoys, the correspondent said. CARPATHO-RUSSIANS Mobilized By Hungary ANKARA, July 17. Hungary is mobilizing CarpatlioRussians. Those fit for service will be enrolled in a Hungarian division, but will be employed behind the front, for fear of desertion. Others will be sent to west German armament works, where they will receive wages 30 per cent, below those of German workers A third category has been detailed for forced labour in Carpatho-Russia. The Carpatho-Russians total 550,000, of whom 110,000 are eligible to be called up.