PRESSURE INTENSIFIED

Evening Star, Issue 24278, 20 August 1942, Page 5

PRESSURE INTENSIFIED

All-out Drives For Stalingrad

Black Sea Ports Seriously Threatened Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright (Deceived 11.40 a.m.) LONDON, August 19. The German two-fisted drive for Stalingrad has been intensified, with now onslaughts in the Kletskaya region and north-eastward from Kotelnikovo. The latest Moscow reports say that the Germans are attacking from all directions in the Kletskaya region. With fresh resenes and bombers thev are doing their utmost to reach the east bank of the Don. v ’ The German’s have -resumed their large-scale action on the front south-west of Stalingrad. North-east of Kotelnikovo the Gormans concentrated huge forces of motorised units. Tanks were massed and heavy artillery barraged the Russian positions, hurling hundreds of tons of metal against the Soviet forces. The Germans then threw in tanks and motorised infantry. Seventy tanks on one sector fought 24 Russian tanks. Twenty-six tanks rushed another sector but wore turned back; then a wave of 40 tanks appeared and also' failed. Finally, 80 tanks attacked and cracked the Russian front line. The Germans then adVanced miles before the Russians threw them back. The battlefield is strewn with German dead, mangled tanks, and lorries. A Stockholm report states that violent fighting has broken out near Novorossisk between the Russians and advanced German elements which crossed the Lower Kuban at Krasnodar. A Moscow message says the threat to the Black Sea ports has increased as the fighting in the Krasnodar area spreads eastwards and southwards from the Kuban River. The Germans on a number of sectors have driven fresh wedges into the Russian lines and increased the pressure. Heavy fighting is raging in the Voronezh area, where enemy tanks, infantry, and cavalry are vainly attempting to recapture lost positions. The ‘ Red Star ’ reports that the Russians have somewhat withdrawn in the centre of the Kletskaya front. The German onslaught continues unabated. The withdrawal followed a mass attack by German tanks, motorised infantry, and planes. The Russians are holding the new lines successfully. • The Berlin radio announced that Russian planes last night •bombed Eastern and Western Prussia.

RUSSIANS OUTNUMBERED FRESH NAZI DIVISIONS THROWN INTO BATTLE , LONDON, August 19. The Moscow radio says the Germans have transferred 22 divisions, including two tank divisions, from the west to Russia in the last two months,_ and have also flung additional divisions from vassal States against Russia, The superiority of enemy man power and equipment thus concentrated has been

a decisive factor, and enabled the enemy in the Don and Kuban regions to capture large territories and towns which are a serious loss industrially to Russia. Tho Russians held and then began beating back the Germans at Voronezh during the last six weeks in spite of the enemy’s reserves of man power 'and the quantity of equipment. The Russians have also developed offensive operations against the enemy on the Bryansk, Kalinin, and other northwestern fronts. The Germans have been able to advance appreciably only in the south, where their losses have been tremendous. *