LESS RAPID

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20861, 13 August 1942, Page 3

LESS RAPID

GERMAN RED ARMY STAND STALINGRAD DEFENCE MOST BITTER FIGHTING (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 12. A Russian communique records no further withdrawals. The Red Army is holding fierce attacks at Kletskaya. north-east of Kotelnikovo, and fighting defensively in the Caucasian sectors in the face of great pressure. A Moscow message says that desperate air battles are raging over the Caucasian front. Junkers are rushing up troops and materials. The Russians are taking heavy toll of these transports and also plastering the Germans with fire-bombs, which set the woods ablaze, trapping concentrations of men and material. One report says that the whole Kuban Valley is ablaze. The German attacks in the Kletskaya and Kotelnikovo .areas continue with unabated strength, b.ut no further advance by the enemy in either of these important sectors is reported officially by the Soviet. However, the Red Star says that the Germans are throwing fresh troops into the struggle and admits a Russian withdrawal in one place. In the northern Caucasus, the Russians are defending the line of the Kuban River around. Krasnodar against superior enemy forces. Red Gains at Voronej A Moscow message also says that they are battering at the Gei'man wedge, which they cut off at the base. The situation in the Maikop region ; s described as serious, as the Germans are using every effort to push on, probably with the intention of capturing Pyatigorsk, 50 miles east of It is believed in London that the German progress southwards is slackening as the Caucasus foothills are reached. Eastwards, where there is no such barrier, the Germans seem to be pushing on fast. It is not yet apparent whether the Soviet Command will toe able, with the forces available, to make a stand covering the naval base of ‘ Novorossisk and the port of Tuapse, the defence of which would extend their line by scores of miles. Further slight progress by the Russians south of Voronej is announced. The Times correspondent in Moscow says that Marshal Timoshenko is using all his resources to defend Stalingrad and the Volga and so maintain the Soviet’s vital communications, but General von Bock is oouring in great forces of infantry and tanks. The battles of Kotelnikovo and also south of Kletskaya are continuing with undiminished intensity. The Daily Telegraph’s Moscow -orrespondent reports that the Germans at some points in the Kotelnikovo area forced a way into the Russian positions by sheer weight of metal, but the battle goes on without decision. The Russians in some Kletskaya sectors pressed hack the Germans. The fighting on both sectors is the most bitter of the whole camnaign. . The Times’ Stockholm correspondent says that the spearhead of the German drive eastwards from Armavir is reported to have by-passed the Mineralniyevody-Georgeivsk junction and turned south-east into the spa district, which is connected with the main Rostov-Baku railway toy an electrified branch line The Berlin radio claims that the Germans occupied Kislovodsk.