MOST BITTER AND FATEFUL FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 270, 13 August 1942, Page 5

MOST BITTER AND FATEFUL FIGHT

Volga Oil Bottleneck TIMOSHENKO USES ALL ! HIS RESOURCES (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.! ? | LONDON, August IL The battle for the approaches to Stalingrad has’ become more violent north-east of Kotelnikovo, and all dispatches from Moscow and Stockholm emphasize the gravity of the position and underline the very serious possibilities of a German success hereabouts. The Germans need Stalingrad in order to straddle the Volga and effectively cleave the Russian communications, cutting off the northern mechanized armies and planes from Caucasian oil. Any German success before Stalingrad will menace Marshal Timoshenko, whose army, while it is comparatively intact, constantly threatens the grip of the Germans in the territories they at present occupy. The Germans meanwhile are fanning out eastward 'from Armavir and also closing in on the Novorossisk-Tuapse sector of the Kuban country. The Russians here are fighting defensive battles against thousands of German motor-cyclists who, armed to the teeth, are racing in hoping to confuse the withdrawal. The military situation in the western Kuban sector is clearly irretrievable, and the Russians are fighting back mainl/ for time to demolish and evacuate.

The Russians in the sector east of Armavir have slowed up the Germans, but a huge column of armoured forces is still advancing toward the Caspian Bea along the Caucasus foothills.

These facts are disheartening, but not disastrous, whereas if the Germans are not* stopped before Stalingrad they could weaken the entire Russian resistance. Restricted Nazi Gain. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says that Marshal Timoshenko is using all his resources to defend Stalingrad and the Volga and so maintain the Soviet Union’s vital communications, but Field Marshal von Bock is pouring in great forces of infantry and tanks. The battles of Kotelnikovo and south -of Kletskaya are continuing with undiminishedi intensity. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Moscow correspondent reports that the Germans at some points in the Kotelnikovo area liave forced their way into the Russian positions by sheer weight of metal, but the battle goes on without decision. The Russians in some sectors in the Kletskaya area liave pressed back the Germans. The fighting in both sectors is the most bitter of the whole campaign. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says the spearhead of the German drive eastward from Armavir is reported to have bypassed the Mineralniyevody-Georgeivsk junction and turned south-east into the spa district, which is connected with the main Rostov-Baku railway by an electrified branch line. A Soviet communique states: “On August 11 our troops waged fierce fighting in the regions of Kletskaya, north-east of Kotelnikovo, and in the regions of Cherkesk (50 miles southeast of Ar.mavir), Maikop and Krasnodar. There were no important changes in other sectors of the front.” A supplementary communique refers

to highly effective work by the Soviet air force, which yesterday destroyed or damaged 40 tanks, 200 lorries carrying troops, arms and supplies, 30 ammunition carts, seven oil tanks, and three ammunition dumps, as well as silencing the batteries of guns and routing four battalions of infantry. The enemy round Eletskaya again suffered heavy losses but continued to bring up fresh reserves. All types of weapons are said to be in use in the fighting to the north-east of Kotelnikovo. Reference is also piade to a large tank battle near a locality which was occupied by the Russians on the previous day, and this has forced the enemy on to the defensive. Krasnodar Breakthrough. In the region of Krasnodar Russian troops have taken up new positions following an enemy breakthrough, Moscow states, Vichy radio declared that the spearhead of the German column from Krasnodar was now 40 or 50 miles from Novorossisk. Advanced unite of another column from Maikop were said to toe 30 miles from Tuapse. The German forces which occupied Pyatigorsk had passed Prokhladnaya, where they split. One group was now in the Mosdok region, the other near the industrial centre of Ordzhonoidze, 50 miles south-west of Grozny. A German communique states that the Russians in the Maikop area had been thrown back in several sectors in the mountains. The Russian army west of Kalach was driven together on a narrow base and faced annihilation. The communique reported heavy defensive lighting in (he Rzhev area, where the Russians yesterday attacked with fresh reinforcements. BRITISH TANK EXPERT CLAIMED CAPTURED (Received August 12, 9.45 p.m.) LONDON, August 11. The German news agency says: “Colonel Riminton, of the British Army, was captured by a U-boat with other survivors of a cargo steamer belonging to a British-American convoy. Riminton a tank expert, was going to Russia to place his knowledge at the disposal of the Bolsheviks.”