DECISION IS NO NEARER

Southland Times, Issue 24859, 26 September 1942, Page 5

DECISION IS NO NEARER

INTENSE FIGHTING (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 24. The Germans gains at Stalingrad have been offset by the Russian recapture of positions in other parts of the battlefield and the titanic struggle for mastery seems to be no nearer a decision than at the beginning of the week. The newspaper Red Star, organ of the Red Army, says the present fighting is the most intense yet, with increasing German artillery and air attacks. One Russian tank unit repelled a German attempt to break into Stalingrad from the south. The attack was launched by German heavy tanks covered by big air “umbrellas” with assault troops following up the tanks at the double. Russian tanks broke up the German tank formation, destroyed 34 tanks and a number df lorries and killed a large number of shock troops. The biggest street battle so far occurred yesterday when 200 German tanks and several thousand lorry-borne infantrymen burst into the centre of the city. The German artillery kept up a non-stop barrage. The Luftwaffe constantly ’roared overhead. Russian Guards fought like lions with anti-tank guns, hand grenades and petrol bottles. One of Stalingrad’s main buildings occupied by the German tommy-gun-ners was the centre of a many hours battle. The Germans, firing from the windows and the roof, controlled the approaches from all sides. The Russians decided to blow up the building. Five men, each carrying 501 b of dynamite, approached under intensive fire and with a terrific, deafening roar the giant building blew up, burying hundreds of Germans. HOLOCAUST IN STALINGRAD Red Star’s front-line correspondent, vividly describing the Stalingrad holocaust, says the horizon is covered with a great glare from the burning city, tongues of flame dancing everywhere. The sky is full of burning ashes. Whole streets have disappeared and debris and shattered German bombers litter the ground. The Germans, are doing their utmost to create a living Hell, but ferry-boats and other craft are still rushing reinforcements and supplies across the river, despite terrific air attacks. The Germans in three big counterattacks at Voronej have lost over 1500 men killed and have been forced back to their original positions. German tanks wiped out a battalion of Austrians on this front. The Austrians broke under Russian fire and the German tanks which had been sent on to follow them fired on them from behind. Russian pressure has forced the Germans to discontinue their offensive in the northern Caucasus mountains and to give up several positions they had occupied. The Russians, despite German infiltration tactics with alpine troops, have managed to hold on to their important heights and passes and the deteriorating weather has bogged down the Germans. Very fierce fighting is continuing, but the Russians are apparently now on top. “INVISIBLE BRIDGES” The German propaganda agency in Stockholm reveals that the Russians are bringing up reinforcements across the Don at Voronej and across the Volga at Stalingrad, across “invisible bridges.” The agency attributes the Russian successes to fire use of dozens of these bridges, which are built a few inches below the water level. They are invisible from the air and the Russians traverse them under cover of fog and darkness. Italian troops discovered the bridges when they saw the Russians apparently walking on the water.