Evening star., 1942-07-17
100000 Nozis Push Russians
Toward Sto|ingrod and Rostov;
u. S. Tanks Reinforce British
Reds Fighting Hard
From Voronezh South
To MiIIerovo Area
D. the Associated Press.

To MiIIerovo Area
b. the Associated Press.
MOSCOW, July 17-Masses OF
German infantry supported by
their heaviest tanks-a force of
perhaps 100000 all told
marched through the lush, waist
high wheatfields of the Don
Steppes in a continuing offensive
today as the Red Army fell back
both toward Stalingrad and Ros-
tov.
Mindful Of the hourly increasing
threats to both of these important
centers on the Volga elbow and the
lower Don which flank each side
of the entrance to the Caucasus, the
Red Army fought stubbornly from
well-defended Voronezh on the
north to the fiat, r-wrinkled
country southeast of Millerovo.
Near a river crossing southeast
Of Milerovo, 200 miles south Of
Voronezh, the Soviet fighters were
reported to have handed heavy
blow to the invaders.
Rail Junction Believed Safe.
This river crossing was not named
In Soviet dispatches, but it was not
believed the German advance had
yet surged to the junction where
the east-west railway from Stain
grad joins the main Rostov-Mos-
COW line.
CThis might indicate that
heavy fighting took place near
Kamensk, or east of there. Ka-
mensk is on the Donets 40 miles
south of Millerovo. The Ger
mans claimed they had cut the
railway connecting Stalingrad
with the Donets. This railway
is Just south of Kamensk)
The Russians said IA German
tanks were destroyed and 600 Ger
mans killed in the battle at the
crossing.
AS the Russians fell back through
the green fields which were to have
played a large part in feeding their
people this winter, reports told how
the countryside was left Uttered with
German dead, the fuming wrecks OF
burned-out tanks and the snarled
ruins of guns and trucks.
In one other sector OF this front,
the Russians reported hard punch
In which II invading tanks were
smasned and 1900 Germans killed.
Nazis Unmindful Of Losses.
But the dispatches said the Ger
mans were unmindful of these losses
throwing in more men and machines
strongly supported by air forces. as
they advanced on Stahngrad, now
less than ITS miles from the flaming
front, and Rostov, perhaps 13o miles
to the southwest.
At VoroneZh Russian chances
frightened with every new counter
attack the stiffened Red Army forces
were throwing against the invaders.
But the Germans apparently were
still clinging to positions at the west
side of the city, and the danger to
the city from the south, where Hun
rarian infantry and cavalry were at
tacking at the confluence Of the Don
and Voronezh Rivers, was not les
sened.
North and northwest of the city
the Germans have been thrown
back, leaving many ravines and hills
and fields cluttered with broken
machines and bodies.
Izvestia said Germans were dying
before Voronezh in the same pro-
portions but on larger scale than
they did at Sevastopol. The Rus
slams have reported that $4,000 Ger
mans lost their lives taking the
latter stronghold in the Crimea.
100000 Nazis Lost.
The Soviet Information Bureau
estimated that Adolf Hitler already
had lost 100000 men in so days OF
spring and summer warfare.
Naval dispatches reported that a
German submarine, fleeing from 9
Russian destroyer in an unnamed
sea. was blown up when 1t hit
mine.
On the Leningrad front Red All
Force planes staged two raids or
long-range guns which were bat
tering the city. The Russians sale
their own big guns blasted into
silence 10 anti-aircraft batteries.
"In some sectors of the Voronezf
front. the initiative has passed lntt
Soviet hands" communlque an
nounced. The Germans are on tht
defensive"
DISPATCHES said the Russian
Rounded the invaders with surpris
ing tank strength in several areas
forcing them to take cover.
Twin breaks were reported mad'
In invasion formations west of Vo
ronezh. which Maj. Gen. Nlkola
Zhuravlev, a Red Army commenta
tor, described as "a mill to grlnt
German troops crossing the Dol
into a bloody pulp"
Condition Critical in Don Bend.
Critical conditions persisted TO
Red Army divisions fighting withll
the Don River bend to check tn
threat of an invasion of industrla
Stalingrad, now less than It's mile
east of the front, and the more dis
tant Caucasian oil fields below tn
Don.
In Berlin the Nazi high COM
mand communique today SAID
that mobile German troops,
pressing their offensive toward
Stalingrad and the Caucasus,
stormed forward in pursuit OF
Russian forces retreatlng toward
the lower Don River
Southeast of occupied MI
ierovo--itself 200 miles south OF We
ronezh and 100 miles north OF Ros
tov-another fighting withdrawal
outnumbered Soviet forces was re
ported.
Poles Kill Gestopo Chief
LONDON. July II P).-Reutel
today quoted the Stockholm pape