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CRISIS FOR
RED ARMY
All-Out Nazi
Attacks
"The Age" Special Correspondent
in London
LONDON, July 12.
Moscow's admissions that a German
infantry division and 100 tanks have
crossed the Don River opposite Vo
ronezh, and that overwhelming
masses . of - Germans are attempting to
establish further bridgeheads by in
creasingly fierce assaults, disclose a
continued deterioration on the Rus
sian battlefront.
The Red Armies are now facing
one . of the gravest crisis of the war.
The Germans, on a front of 200 miles,
are using masses of tanks, and
armored forces -are heading with
desperate speed for the Don River
bulge. The fiercest,- and probably
the most bloody battle of the whole
campaign, is now raging for
Voronejh, against' which the Ger
mans are hurling reinforcements. -
The enemy, however, ; has already
bypassed - and probably encircled the
city, -but bitterly stubborn Russian re-
sistance by General Zhukov's army
has forced the Germans to dig in fur
ther north.
Southwards from Voronezh the
enemy is pushing on to the middle
Don from Rossosh. ' The German
plan which is in early stages is to
capture the whole area between the
Donets and the Don, continuing with
heavy fighting at Kantemirovka, 45
miles south from Rossosh and Lisi-
chansk on > the south-west . bank of
the. Donets, 60 miles east. of Izyum.
The ' latter thrust is serious and an
immediate threat to Rostov and the
remainder of the Donet's Basin held
by the Russians. German claims
made to-day in a special communique
are unconfirmed from Moscow and it
is considered in London that they
are exaggerated. '
Nazi Objective
It is clear, however, that with a
huge proportion of the German army's
might deployed on the southern front
and heavy reinforcements being sent
to the front line to increase its strik
ing power, the enemy, despite heavy
losses, is rolling back the Russians
like a steam roller.
The main direction of the offensive
is still easterly, but it has gathered a
south-eastern swing on the lower
southern front which suggests a fan-
ning-out operation rather than the
usual wedge movement. This may
have the objective of pouring in huge
forces on a gradually widening front
to conquer the area west of the Don
bulge and reach the river bank at
most DOlnts at annrnxlmatalv the
same time. The Germans' protective
shield on the left flank -. along the
Don valley would then permit them
to turn south-easterly, cross the lower
Don near the Don-Volga canal - and
thereby make a frontal attack against
the Caucasus as well as ' threaten all
Allied supply routes from Iran, in
cluding those across the -Caspian Sea
to Astrakhan. .
Thus, although Ihl Russians so far
have only lost the vital Moscow-Ros
tov link (for which they have probably
already provided a workable - alterna
tive) the threat to their southern com
munications is most seripus.
Russia's southern armies, too, are
facing the possibility of being cut in
two. Germany's fighting power is now
at its highest pitch, but despite the
gloomy prospects experts are cautious
in predicting whether she can keep
up the. effort for the next three or
four months in good campaigning
weather.
. Russia's successes last winter were
responsible for Germany's concentra
tion on one front rather than on the,
whole 2000 miles of battle front. That
in itself is favorable to the Allies.
Other factors — manpower, tank, air-
power, industrial and raw materials
and resources — because of heavy losses
on the Russian front have reduced
the tremendous superiority which
Germany had a year ago.
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