Evening star., 1942-10-03
Reds AdvonceAbov Stu|inqrod,
Selling initiative F rom Nozis
Both Inside and Outside City
Brighter Turn Given
To Great Struggle
For VoIgo Basin

to the great battle for the Volga
Basin today by snatching the
initiative from the Germans and
bearing down on the NaZi flank
in an advance northwest of
Stalingrad while defenders with
in the city also were breaking
down the enemy's offensives.
Russian tank and troop attacks
carried the defenders of battered
Stalingrad into the Germans front
line on the north and strong coun-
terattacks within the city also
threatened the besiegers' positions
there.
The battlefield appeared now to
be be divided roughly into three
zones, with the Russians driving
across the steppes outside the city
and along the streets inside it
while the Germans persisted in as
saults in the suburbs between these
two areas.
While the Germans have held the
edge in numbers, their greater
weight Of manpoWer apparently has
been insufficient to swing the scales
of the long battle decisively and the
reserves which have arrived re-
Gently have served only to fill the
gaps left by heavy losses.
Improvement Indicated.
Dispatches which reported the
German offensive checked on Stalin-
grads northwest sector and the
Russians pressing their own attacks
there indicate a definite improve
ment in the Red Armys position.
"a British broadcast, heard by
CHS in New York, said "a big
tank battle, with hundreds of
tanks engaged on both sides, has
fared up on the scorched steppes
northwest of Stalingrad."
tAlthough it conceded no set
back in the violent siege, the
German high command commu-
nique acknowledged strong Rus
sian pressure both north and
south of the city. 1t gave only
brief, vague account of action
yesterday, asserting that the
days objectives were attained.)
The Russians are battering down
the Germans hastily improvised
Notifications and driving wedges in
their defenses during battles in
volving huge numbers of tanks, the
army newspaper Red Star declared.
Losing 1000 to 5000 dead daily,
the Germans were forced back
through the ruined streets of Stain
grad yesterday, while the relief Of
fensive northwest of the city gained
a hilltop where the Germans had
buried 130 damaged tanks as gun
emplacements, the Russians said
Tank supported Nazi infantry
men, trying to roll the defense lines
eastward toward the Volga. were re-
ported by Red Star to have been the
victims of Red Army guard di-
vision.
While intrenched Soviet troops
held firmly, the guard division struck
swiftly against a side of the invasion
wedge and compelled the enemy to
retreat, leaving war equipment, sew
eral hundred dead and some pris-
oners.
Invaders Ousted.
Squad by squad and house by
house, the siege-worn garrison was
reported ousting the invaders from
bloodily gained footholds.
All the news was not good-retire-
.ment CT a Red Army detachment
south o. the city was officially noted
but restrained optimism was evi-
dent in field dispatches.
The Soviet Information Bureaus
accounts remained restrained Over
night developments were summed up
in these words:
Stubborn fighting continues. One
guards mortar unit, firing against a
concentration of German troops.
killed more than 200 officers and
men.
''In another sector one of our
units repulsed three German attacks
and destroyed four tanks and about
one company of infantry.
Northwest of Stalingrad our
troops waged active operations. Our
tank units broke into enemy posi-
tions and killed more than $50
Hitlerites."
Sharp Clash in Outskirts.
Sharp combat continued in the
industrial northwestern outskirts of
Stalingrad, where the Germans have
been pressing an offensive since they
encountered stonewall resistance
elsewhere inside the city.
Red Star said German infantry
division attacked another factory
settlement, trying to expand the
penetration, but retreated under
Soviet fire to its starting point.
The newspaper Izvestia declared
a column of tanks which had pre-
viously wedged into workers de-
velopment was forced out under
heavy fire from Red Army artillery
batteries.
Hand-to-hand fighting ragged ir
some suburban streets. An entire
company of German automatic rifle.
IlGll Wdo lCpOl tSo SHSSA ~
Soviet infantrymen. In another
street the Russians, firing from the
attic of house. forced two enem,
companies to retreat with only 6
few survivors, dispatches said.
The Germans were reported driver
from several large buildings, in
cluding a four-story house domi.
mating a broad district where tht
enemy lost 200 men.
Speed of the Soviet advance north.
west of Stalingrad evidently proved
confusing to German scouts.
Series of Trenches Taxi.
Red Star said a Red Arm. fore,
charged German positions, captured
series of trenches, destroyed fiv,
machine-gun nests and pillbo,
and killed $50 of the enemy. Tha
chore completed, the Russians movet
forward to new positions.
The newspaper said the Germans