ATTACKS AGAINST FACTORIES REPELLED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 23 October 1942, Page 5

ATTACKS AGAINST FACTORIES REPELLED

London, Oct. 22. 1 he first snow has fallen over the Stalingrad battle zone north west of the city, according to the latest messages from Moscow, turning the steppes info great fields of mud. Cold winds are sweeping across the battlefield from the heights of the Urals. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says the weather has helped to slow down the Germans who are showing exhaustion and attacking only in narrow sectors. The tempo of the German assault in north Stalingrad has slowed down, reports Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. All attacks against factories in three sectors in the last 24 hours have been repelled A cold wind with a steady driving rain is sweeping through the city and roads are coated with mud. The Russians after two days of fierce fighting have taken a height on the slopes near Stalingrad. All the German counter-attacks were repulsed. The height is one from which Stalingrad is clearly visible. The “Red Star” says last week's fighting clearly shows the enemy strength is petering out. The Germans only have force enough to concentrate on a narrow sector, thereby weakening their power of offensive as a whole.

The Moscow “Izvestia” states that the Luftwaffe dropped 1000 tons of bombs during 1800 air attacks against a mile-long sector in north Stalingrad during the latest German assault, but the Germans achieved only local successes and they failed in their objective of splitting the defences. The Russians are firmly entrenched and still barring the way. According to “Red Star,” the Germans lost 60 tanks in the past two days in attacks on north Stalingrad. While deadly fighting is going on at both ends of Stalingrad, which is probably the longest city in the world, life in the centre is practically normal, “Pravda” says. The size of the city stretching 40 miles along the Volga permits a continuance of life in the central section. Shells sometimes interrupt life in these parts, but normally some children still play in the streets and women tend their allotments. Electric power stations are still working and a newspaper appearing daily. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says a battle of a very different character is being fought out on the billiard table steppe south of Stalingrad, where villages are 10 to 15 miles apart. Struggles here are for rare water wells, the Germans and Rumanians “sounding” village after village in their effort to drive to Astrakhan via the lower Volga, the Russians countering with small cavalry and motor cycle patrols audaciously swooping on the Germans. A Stockholm message says the German panzer tank is armed with several cannon and machine-guns, carrying a crew of nearly thirty. THE MOSDOK REGION Coscow radio reports that Russians south-east of Novorossiisk have cleared the enemy from two heights and captured a populated place and a neighbouring height in the Mosdok region. A strange murderous war is being fought out. in the Caucasus mountain passes. The Russians fire at rocks over enemy positions to bring down an avalanche or send blazing logs hurtling down on groups of German and Rumanian alpine troops painfully climbing the slopes.—P.A.