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NAZI STRENGTH
"PETERING OUT"
Signs Of Exhaustion At
Stalingrad
Australian Associated Press And Our Special Representative
LONDON, October 22.
The weather—the first enow has fallen over the battle
Zone —has helped to slow down the attack on Stalin-
grad by the Germans, who are showing signs of ex-
haustion, according to the Moscow correspondenet
of British United Press. They are now attacking
only on narrow sectors.
The Soviet Arm; jonrnal "Red Star." Mates thai the
:| fighting of the past week shown clearly that the
?j enemy's strength is petering out. The Germans
'; have only force mnugh to concentrate on a narrow
| sector, tberebv weakening the power of their offen-
I sive as a whole.
All the German effort is directed against the factory area
and workers* settlement in the northern part of the
city, but all attacks have Iteen repulsed.
Reuters Moscow correspondent
; reports that a cold wind with a
' steady, driving rain, is sweeping
? through the city, and tbe roads are
> coated with mud. The Russians,
1 after two days of fierce fighting,
'? nave taken a height on the steppes
'< near Stalingrad. All German
couriter-attacks were repelled. Tbe
i height is one from which Stalin
grad is clearly visible. German
motorlsed forces are reported to
! be moving toward the height.
I The German thrust to the
i Grozny oilfields in tbe Eastern
Caucasus is still checked in the
. Mosdok area, where the Russians
> scored a minor success yesterday.
. fn the Western Caucasus, bad wea-
I ther and the stubborn Russian re
? sistance are holding up tbe enemy
< attempt to push through the foot
! hills of the mountains to the port
of Tuapse
Today's Moscow communique
states:—"All night we fougbttbe
enemy in tbe areas of Stalingrad
and Mosdok. There were no
changes elsewhere. Our warships
in the Black Sea sank three auxi
liary vessels and a transport.
"In the Stalingrad area we wipeo
out an infantry company. A Rus
sian unit north-west of Stalingrad
stormed a trench, and In hand-to
hand fighting wiped out 200 Ger
mans, captured four trench mor
tars, seven machine-guns, a radio
transmitter and an ammunition
dump, and destroyed seven pill
boxes. The Russians in the Mos
dok area engaged small groups. kOl
inc 300 Germans."
The overnight Moscow commu
nique claims that Russian warships
in the Black Sea have sunk a Ru
manian destroyer and three trans
ports totalling 15J00 tons
I Battle Vividly Described
Operations at Stalingrad in the
: past three days have been fought
1 in driving rain and nave brought
ths enemy little but an increased
ideathroU, says U* Moscow cone
> spondent of -The Times," In a vivid
description of the fighting
? Reports of the fighting, he goes
on, are a record of Incessant at
tacks, highly critical moments for
? the defenders, and amasini; re
-1 coveries at tunes when a further
sag on the narrow front seemed
inevitable.
The Germans on Sunday at
tacked a factors In the upper part
of the city from a sailent made
during the week. They used on
a mile front two divisions or in
fantry with 60 tanks. They ad
vanced until the Russians threw
Jn reserve* and Halted them. Bat
meanwhile a little to the west other
enemy units which bad broken
through, reached a section or (he
Stalingrad loop of the railway, cut
ting off a Russian regiment from
' the troops defending the factory,
who were gradually bring Torero
, back to Its walls
! The Russians, after a violent
. struggle, marked by much hand
j to-hand fighting, cleared the
enemy from the area, and brought
, some relief to the adjacent sector
; The situation before the factory
. was restored on Sunday evening.
> and the line.* were recovered dur
[ tn*> the night.
_ The Germans on Moodav again
t began a two-pronged thrust. They
i moved in one direction a division
, of infantry with 30 tanks, and tn
t another direction they moved a
, regiment under the cover or 40
> tanks. Groups of four end (toe
[ aircraft kept up constant low
level bombing of the factory, fore
. ing the defenders to vie!d ground
[ to the very trails
But once again the unite from
adjacent sectors successfully At
tacked the enemy's exposed right
dank, causing him to hesitate, and
giving the other defending forces
tune to organise a frontal counter
attack. This again recovered
much ground After thai no far
ther territory was yielded to the
enemy, who, however, is con
tinuing to assemble reserves and
press the attack.
"To envisage tine fighting m Sta
lingrad." tbe correspondent goes
on, -it must be realised that the
city is the longest in Russia. It
is really more of a series of satel
lite towns Cringing tbe river. As
you travel alone the main road,
modern Industrial buUdings, fac
tories and tenement* peter out into
Udder wooden cottages and shack*
{Then, after crossing the ravines
which cut across Stalingrad, you
find the city again beguming
"This process is repeated lor
many miles. That is why in the
southern pan of Staling nut there
are still children playing in the
streets, and dUsens digging pota
toes. The Russians, although .the
danger of death from shells and
bombs is ever present, are main
taining a certain normality of life.
even a few miles from the boot,
where scores of thousands are
locked In tattle
"Fishermen and working women
prepare the fanwuis Volga fish soap
! and take it up nightly to Ibe front
iline The main electric power sta
tion is stilJ providing neat and tight
! to the quarters of the city held by
tbe Russians. Local inhabitants
call this peace, although the re
verberations of roe cannonade are
constantly in their ears, and tbe
air is Sited with the sharp sme?
'trf houses stflj smouldering from
I the raids last August."
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