Russians Extract Sting From Grave German Drive

Northern Advocate, 18 December 1942, Page 3

Russians Extract Sting From Grave German Drive

(Rec. 1.30 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 17. Mammoth struggles for tactical advantages at Stalingrad and on the central fronts continue to ebb and flow.

The Russians, through their victory at Verkhne Kumksy. midway between the east bank of the Don and Kotelnikovo railway, have, for the present, extracted the sting from a serious German drive south-west of Stalingrad, which was intended to break the Russian “bear hug" on the Germans pincered between the Don and Volga. Correspondents agree that the Kerkhne Kumsky action is the first severe test of the Germans’ ability to penetrate the Red Army ring around the trapped forces in the Don-Volga corridor. The Russians, after two days’ fighting at Verkhne Kumsky, completely wiped out a strong German force sent forward, thus stopping the first phase of the rescue attempt. After closure of the German breach, the Russians advanced and occupied several fortified points. The Germans, on. the central front, are still showing there is plenty of power left in their counter-attacks. Men are fighting along the whole central front, kneedeep—sometimes waist-deep—in snow, but the Germans are counter-attacking a dozen times daily, and villages are changing hands frequently.

Encircling German. Garrison

'•Red Star" says that the German garrison at Veliki Luki is cut off from the north-west, where the Russians straddle four highways, also from the west, where the Germans have lost control of the railway leading to Novosokolniki. The Germans lost more than 1030 in this action.

The Russians, west of Rjev. wiped out the 14th German Motorised Division, originally composed of 20.000. Berlin radio, quoting a High Command spokesman, admitted that after a three-day battle north of Alagir in the Caucasus the Russians broke through the German lines.