Factory Area In Stalingrad

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 105, 30 October 1942, Page 5

Factory Area In Stalingrad

The Germans have begun a new onslaught on ' the northern factory belt in Stalingrad.

In the last 24 hours the Germans have flung four infantry divisions and two tank divisions into a series of violent new assaults on the city. They are concentrated on the northern factory belt which stretches for many miles along the west bank of the Volga.

The attack is supported b planes, but Marshal Timoslienlup to the onslaught.

>y incessant raids by 50 or bO ;o's troops are firmly standing

The "News Chronicle" correspondent in Moscow says that the Rus-! sians defending Stalingrad's factory area are now at a considerable disadvantage. Not only are they outnumbered, but their lines of com-.; immicalion are overlooked by the enemy. Outside the city to the north-west, in the steppe between the Volga and the Don, the Russians, after a pause of a few days, have renewed their attacks. Their present objective is some high ground which the enemy has fortified. At Stalingrad there is warm autumn sunshine. In the Caucasus there have already been heavy snow storms, and the fighting is of a very different character. Ski troops and sledge detachments are already in action on the snow-covered slopes. Planes fly overhead, while in the Valleys, and ravines German tanks and artillery are supporting their infantry in attempts/to break through the deep Russian de j fences. Avalanches frequently block the supply routes, and the Russians are even using donkeys to get materials through the drifts up to their troops in the front line.

At the western end of the range, where the Germans are trying to break through to Tuapse, the Russians have beaten off new enemy attacks in the wooded foothills and are counter-at-tacking with success.

Further east, fighting has developed in the Nalchik area. This is a small town at the end of a branch railway on the north side of the Caucasus ridge. . The country around it is fairly smooth and cultivated. The Germans have been attacking, at a number of points, and the Russians have been forced to give ground in some places. Today's German communique claims the capture of Nalchik, but this is not confirmed in Moscow.