Evening star., 1942-09-29
Nozis Cleared From Vo|go Bank
BY Red Drive in Rzhev Sector;
Allies on Offensive in Pacific
Peril to StoIinerod
Increased by New
German Advance
b the Associated Press.

os VIC heaOSldoro icst
MOSCOW, Sept. ga Rus
sian offensive northwest of
Rzhev was reported today to
have cleared the Germans from
a bank of the Upper Volga while
Soviet troops expanded flanking
attacks from the Lower Volga to
the Don bend in an effort to re-
lieve the embattled garrison of
Stalingrad.
A fresh German penetration from
the northwest added to the gravity
of Stalingrad's position. Nazi tanks
pivoted and charged within work
ers' settlement in an effort to hold
the gains of a bloody assault yes
terday. Throughout the city victory
and defeat were measured at times
In yards.
tThe German high command
in Berlin said Nazi troops pene-
trated the northern district of
Stalingrad yesterday. In the
Caucasus the Nazis reported an
advance south of the Terek
River.)
While Russian street fighters
struggled to hold their own, Soviet
forces northwest Of Stalingrad ad-
vanced somewhat and captured sew
eral heights in swift night assaults,
the noon communique said. 1t re-
ported more than three companies
Of Germans were wiped out and
prisoners were taken.
Fighting on 40 Mile Line.
Field dispatches indicated that
fighting famed along front of
more than 40 miles as Marshal
Semeon Timoshenko's shock troops
struck down against the Axis flank
across the Don-Volga corridor. A
Nazi-occupied stronghold and two
villages were declared recaptured.
1t was Stalingrad's 36th day OF
siege.
Rzhev sector fortifications which
the Germans were II months build
ing have been broken to a con-
siderable depth in a two-day old
Red Army drive taking up where
the recent central front offensive
left off. the Russians said.
Soviet Information Bureau COM
muniques announced the capture OF
a strategically important height
subsequently held against five coun-
ters.ttacks-25 villages, munitions
and prisoners in the upper Volga
basin northwest of Rzhev, itself 13O
miles northwest of Moscow.
About $500 Germans were de-
clared slain In this theater, OF whom
some 500 fell in fighting for the
heieht. and the Russians were
pressing the issue in two other areas
as well, hitting back with ground
gaining vigor in the Sinyavino sec
tor and the Western. Caucasus.
Sharp battles persisted in the
Voronezh area, on the upper Don
midway between Moscow and Stalin-
grad
= The battle for the height above
Rzhev, already squeezed by a Rus
sian pincer. cost the Germans ID
tanks and eight guns, the informa-
tion bureau said.
Heavy Fight for Stalingrad.
Heavy fighting was noted in the
confused struggle for Stalingrad
where regiments locked in death
grips for the possession of single
streets. Soviet artillery was said to
have damaged eight German tanks
and dispersed a column OF zoe
trucks.
A mortar battery commander was
cited officially for drawing the letha
fire of automatic riflemen on him
self so that his crews were freed
few seconds to loose explosives which
wrecked three tanks and killed more
than 80 Germans.
The communique gave no details
Of the shifting lines within the city
but the army newspaper Red Stal
said the Germans had occupied some
favorable positions.
Volga River gunboats supported
Red Army infantrymen in a local at
tack which hurled back Rumaniar
rifiemen, Red Star said.
Typical of the street fighting wa
an engagement for an area 80 yard
by $50 yards which was declared Il
have changed hands four times be
fore Russian troops. though ham
mered by Nazi -bombers loos
1See RUSSIA, Page A-l2D