CAUCASUS DRIVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24370, 4 September 1942, Page 3

CAUCASUS DRIVES

MENACE TO SEA POET GROZNI THRUST STILL HELD (Reed. 6.25 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 3 The situation has become worse in the Western Caucasus, Avhere the Germans are gradually progressing ajong the mountain railway from Krasnodar and along the Black Sea coast. This increases the menace to the port of Novorossisk. According to the Vichy radio the Luftwaffe is incessantly bombing ISTovorossisk. The Russians report that one of the enemy groups in the mountains has been surrounded. The newspaper Pravda says the Germans are using alpine troops who rehearsed in the Austrian mountains. Small parties of alpinists are infiltrating in the valleys and attacking strong points on the roads and railway. In the Eastern Caucasus the Germans driving to Grozni are still trying to get across the Terek River at Mozdok. Yesterday German sappers threw eight more pontoon bridges across the river, but they were all destroyed. Enemy motor-launches have also been sunk by Soviet troops. According to a Stockholm report the Germans admit that the scorched earth policy has been applied most intensively in the Caucasus, but they say that they have received valuable information from the Japanese on methods for restoring damaged oilfields.