STALINGRAD BATTLE

Southland Times, Issue 24864, 2 October 1942, Page 5

STALINGRAD BATTLE

STRUGGLE FOR FACTORY AREA (Rec. 1.10 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 1. The position at Stalingrad has become more acute in the last 24 hours. The fighting i$ fiercest in the factory area, into which the Germans have thrown another armoured division. The Russians have been forced to give ground. The Red Army newspaper Red Star says the most decisive moment in the Battle for Stalingrad has been reached. Three hundred thousand Germans are beating on the city’s defences. Red Star reports a Russian counter-stroke to the south of the city and claims that three settlements have been recaptured. 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 tommy-gunners blasted their way into part of the system of casements and strong-points protecting the “Red October,” factory, which is the most western of the three factories, but Soviet Guards counterattacked yesterday and drove the. Germans back to their original positions. BATTLE FOR HILL The Moscow correspondent of The Daily Express states that the Battle for Stalingrad is now a battle for a hill dominating all the industrial area along the Volga north of the city’s centre. While the hill remains in the Russians hands the city stands. Russians and Germans are using tanks in largescale night fighting on the steppes, where the Russians are striving to cut the 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 sun-scorched 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 the blazing grass. A valuable wedge was driven into the German line after bloody hand-to-hand fighting. The Russians are attempting to develop a southward movement from the Kletskaya area and are reported to have advanced some distance down the west bank of the Don. Moscow radio reported that Soviet troops, supported by a large number of planes, yesterday occupied a number of enemy positions and block-houses on a sector of the Leningrad front. Berlin radio stated that strong Soviet forces were incessantly attacking the Lake Ilmen sector of the Leningrad front. One German battalion faced 50 attacks in a day.

CAUCASUS CAMPAIGN Little Progress By Nazis RUGBY, September 30. The German campaign in the Caucasus in the past month 'can hardly come up to tne expectations of the German High Command. Although several armoured divisions and many infantry divisions have been employed little progress has been made from the positions reached a month ago in the regions of Mozdok, the upper Terek River, and the mountain passes north of Tuapse and Novorossisk. In the Mozdok area panzer formations have been badly mauled. The German objective seems to be the Ossetian Pass over the Caucasus and the Georgian highway through Orozhonikidze. Both passes generally become impenetrable about the. middle ot October, so that it is not likely that the Germans will be able to cross the Caucasus this year. Although operations have been continuing in the Western Caucasus not a single German soldier has yet reached the Black Sea east of Novorossisk nor have the Germans made any progress along the coast from that port. The Soviet Army newspaper Red Star, describing the preparedness of Leningrad for an assault, says: “It is possible that the enemy, despairing of taking Stalingrad, will storm Leningrad. Let them try. Leningrad is prepared. The Germans have already concentrated against this city Spaniards, Dutch, Belgians and the remnants of the German divisions from Sebastopol, SS troops and reserves. Some have already paid the supreme penalty. , , . “The city is preparing for the winter in the same way as soldiers prepare for a campaign. Its houses have been converted into fortresses and it will hold out against the strongest pressure.”