RUSSIAN KEY POINTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 37, 12 August 1942, Page 5

RUSSIAN KEY POINTS

MUST BE DEFENDED

(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 11 Stalingrad, Astrakhan, and Baku are now regarded as the key points for the Russians to hold if Russia is going to remain an effective factor in the war. It is now apparent that Marshal Timoshenko's North Caucasian forces were weaker than was expected, and therefore, when the Germans exploited their successful surprise tactics, Timoshenko had to choose either to defend the North Caucasus or to concentrate everything i possible for the defence of the Volga. He managed, by successful withdrawals, to keep the largest proportion of his armies intact, and his decision to protect the Volga is regarded in London as being undoubtedly sound The lower Volga is one of the most important Russian supply routes, and the sole remaining route by which oil from Baku can be transported in considerable "quantities to the interior. FLOW CAN BE KEPT UP. If the Russians can hold Stalingrad, Astrakhan, and Baku, then the allimportant flow of oil can be maintained. Stalingrad is the key town of the whole Volga region, dominating Russia's greatest waterway, which even in peacetime used to carry no less than 30,000,000 tons of freight annually. It has been one of the most vital reception areas for factories evacuated from the west last year. It is also a great munition dump for the whole southern front. VICHY RADIO STORY. ! Vichy radio declared that the spear- ' head of the German column from Krasnodar was now 40 or 50 miles from Novorossisk. Advanced units of another column from Maikop were said to be 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 fighting in the Rzhev area, where the Russians yesterday attacked with fresh reinforcements.