FIERCE FIGHTING

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXI, Issue 15163, 2 October 1942, Page 3

FIERCE FIGHTING

CENTRES ON WAR FACTORIES BATTLE FOR HILL DOMINATING STALINGRAD United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, Oct. J. The fiercest fighting at Stalingrad still centres on the three- great fortified armament works Dzerzhinsky, Red October and Red Barricade—says the Daily Telegraph’s Stockholm correspondent. German tommygunners blasted a way into part of the system of casements and strongpoints protecting Red October which is the most western of the three factories, but 'Soviet Guards counterattacked yesterday and drove the Germans back to their original positions.

The Daily Express’s Moscow correspondent states that the battle for Stalingrad is now the battle for the hill dominating the industrial area along the Volga north of the city’s centre. While the hill remains i:i Russian hands. the city stands. The Russians and Germans are using tanks in largO'-scale night fighting on the steppe where the Russians are striving to cut .the-German communications to Stalingrad. The Germans are using masses of parachute flares and searchlights to prevent surprise Russian attacks and are also setting fire to. the sunscorched steppe grass. Every night in one sector or another, there are seas of fire for miles.

The Daily Telegraph's Moscow correspondent describes how heavy Voroshilov tanks charged through a gap in the fire screen on Monday night. Infantry followed up, although some had to advance through blazing grass and a valuable wedge was driven into the German line after bloody hand-to-hand fighting. The Russians are attempting to develop their southward movement from the Kletskaya area and are reported to have advanced some distance down the west bank of the Don. -

The Moscow radio reported that Soviet troops, supported by a large number of planes, yesterday occupied a number of enemy positions and blockhouses on a sector of the Leningrad front. The Berlin radio stated that strong Soviet forces are incessantly attacking in the Lake Ilmen sector of the Leningrad front. One German battalion faced fifty attacks in a day. A Soviet communique says: “A Soviet naval unit in the Baltic Sea sank a 10,000-ton transport.” The supplement says that the Germans on tlie northwest outskirts of Stalingrad brought up a new tank division, and at the cost of heavy losses, gained ground in one sector. Two enemy infantry battalions were wiped out. Fierce fighting continues northwestwards of the city. In the Mosdok region, all enemy tank attacks were repulsed, 26 tanks being destroyed and 1,500 of the enemy killed. ’Southeastward of Novorossisk, there was heavy fighting. Our troops inflicted heavy losses on the third Alpine Rumanian division, 8,000 of whom were killed. Our men destroyed 25 guns, seven tanks, 75 machine-guns and two ammunition dumps. The German offensive in the Terek Valley is in its fourth day. The Germans are using groups of 100 tanks, but the defenders are holding firm. The situation is similar southeast of Novorossisk. where the Rumanians and Germans repeatedly falter after initial successes. The Russians are fighting stubbornly in the mountains northeast of Novorossisk, also eastward therefrom where the Germans are doing their utmost to seize the mountain passes before- the winter. The British United Press Moscow correspondent reports that Russian Marines, using commando tactics, raided Novorossisk and destroyed several batteries in the centre of the city. The marines are playing a big part in raids along the Black Sea coast, destroying supplies, taking 'prisoners and generally keeping the Germans and Rumanians on the alert.

A German communique states that after hard offensive fighting, Allied troops in the Northwest Caucasus and south of Terek, made further advances. The Germans stormed and captured some sectors in the northern part of Stalingrad.