The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-08-18

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 skaya but the Russians halted the advance by attacking both Hanks of the enemy.
 Russian parachute troops landed in the Germans rear in one part of the Kletskaya sector and bat tied a large force of artillery and infantry successfully carrying out their mission"
 The situation around Krasnodar on the north Caucasus front be- came more acute after massive Ger man forces crossed the Kuban river and crashed through Russian de- lenses at two points to menace the Russian fleets Black Sea base of Novorossisk, less than 63 miles away.
 Cossack cavalry inflicted heavy blows on the Germans with flank attacks, throwing them back at one point with the aid of tanks and then following up with a strong at tack that cost the Germans several hundred officers and men and at least Is tanks.
 German OTlVe OGOPpCW
 Tn another nearby sector the Ger man drive was stopped after a fierce, two-day battle.
 Official advices indicated that the Germans had been halted, at least temporarily, around Krasnodar but the situation was described as "ex- tremely serious" because of the en- emy,s mass crossings of the kuoan river toward Novorossisk.
 The military commentator of the Soviet army organ Red Star said the Russians have been unable to repulse all the German attacks in the North Caucasus and that the NaZs continue to develop their of- feusiye despite great losses.
 Southward and eastward nearer the Caucasus mountains the Rus sians occupied three heights near Mineralnye Vody, about 140 miles northwest of Grozny along the Ros- tov-Baku railroad, and repulsed re- peated German attacks with mo- torized infantry and tanks.
 The Russians were said to have repulsed "all enemy break-through attempts" around Mineralnye Vody.
 The Soviet propaganda chief warned that the Soviet peril was greater now than in 1941 when the Germans drove to within 13 miles of Moscow.
 particularly heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy by our ar tillery" southeast of Kletskaya, Gin tense, defensive fighting" the noon communique asserted. Kletskaya 75 miles northwest of Stalingrad.
 Battalion Wiped Out
 The communique said a battalion of German infantry (1000 men) was wiped out in bitter fighting for a locality northeast of Kotelnikov- ski, which is 90 miles southeast of Stalingrad. Il
 "Tn the Krasnodar area, Soviet troops were engaged with tanks and motorized infantry" the communi- que said. Tn the area of Minera- lnye Vody GAO miles from the oil fields of GroMy) Soviet units re- pulsed enemy attacks. On the northwestern front, there was fight ing of local character"
 Dispatches from the Krasnodar front said the Germans, who had crossed to the south bank of the Kuban river, after week of costly attacks, had apparently brought up substantial endorsements and were i increasing their pressure near two inhabited points, where the Rus sians were barring the way to No- vorossisk.
 As a result of the river crossing, ] at two points, fighting became more violent on all sectors of the Kras- nodar front. Except for the points at which the Germans crossed, the Russians held on all sectors and were counter-attacking in an effort to overwhelm the whole enemy po- sition on the north bank of the