SWAY OF BATTLE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 262, 5 October 1942, Page 5

SWAY OF BATTLE

NEW GERMAN THRUST. (N.Z. Prcs3 Association —Copyright.) LONDON, Oct. 4. There is every prospect that the battle for Stalingrad will go on for a long time yet, according to news agency messages from Moscow, and to-day's Russian communique records another Russian gain in the swaying battle inside the city area, also the

rout of a Rumanian regiment south of the city. The Russians continued their offensive northwest of Stalingrad, capturing new German positions. "The Germans north of Stalingrad after a hard-fought engagement occupied an inhabited locality," says-a Russian communique. "We killed 800 and repulsed other attacks in this Bcctor."

The Daily Express's Stockholm correspondent says the Germans in the north-west suburbs of Stalingrad Lave begun a new thrust against the avenue leading to the heart of the city, which now constitutes the front line. The Russians converted the entire length of the avenue into a tank trap, and the Germans repeatedly but vainly tried to pierce the trap with frontal and flank rushes. Reports from Moscow indicate that the latest German tank wedge in the workers' settlement in north-western Stalingrad lias been cleaned up, and the previous positions restored. The Russians havo also ousted the Germans from important buildings. The weight of the Russian 'onslaught against the Germans' northern flank in the Kletskaya region and between the Don and the Volga is matched by the aggressive spirit of the Russian raiding parties, ranging from companies down to groupß of only two or three men. They are keeping the Germans alert throughout the 24 hours.

Both sides arc maintaining their pressure on the Voronezh front, where in the last two days the Germans have lost 1200 dead without gaining ground. The Germans are held in the Mozdok area. Tlie Russians north-west of Mozdok smashed through 10 German fortifications to capture a point on the railway line and carry the battle into the outskirts of an inhabited locality. The Moscow radio say-! the Red Army successfully counter-attacked in the sectors south-east of Novorossisk. One Russian unit wiped out two companies of Germans and another killed 620. Marines are playing an important role in the Russian fighting. One group standing for hours in the Don. with "only reeds to protect them, launched floating mines, which swirled downstream and blew up two of the Germans' largest pontoon bridges for the reinforcement and supply of the troops assaulting Stalingrad.

MANY ENEMY TOWNS BOMBED. According to the Official Wireless, during the hist two months the Red Air Force, in addition to raiding Berlin, Koenigsberg, Bucharest, and Warsaw, has bombed 20 German towns, including Stettin, Furstcnwalde, Danzig, Tilsit, and Memel, and 15 Hungarian, Rumanian, and Polish towns, according to the Soviet War News. Berlin was bombed three times, Koenigsberg 10, Warsaw four, Buda : pest twice, and Bucharest and Ploesti once each. Thousands of high explosives and incendiaries were dropped, some weighing a ton or more. More than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on Danzig and several hundred tons on Koenigsberg. Four-engined and twin-engined bombers were used, the twin-engined bombers making a nonstop flight of more than 3120 miles.

During the last raid on Berlin about 650 fires were started. The

main blows were struck at factories and harbours. The attacks revealed that the Germans are relying more on observation stations and <tntinircraft and less on interception. The Soviet losses have been extremely light.