Evening star., 1942-09-22
Fighting Amid Debris
And Heaps Of Dead
Grows in Intensity
BY EDDY GILMORE,

by EDDY GlLMORE,
Associated Press War Correspondent.
MOSCOW, Sept. 22.-Battlins
at bayonet-point in the marrow
streets and rubble = ewr
squares, the defenders of Stain.
grad held the Germans today TO-
the fifth consecutive day, reelins
before steadily reinforced on
slaughts, but surging back agair
and again and sometimes gain.
ing ground.
Bombs and shells had levele(
much of the factory city on th'
Volga to battlefield, with ever,
yard contested. Red Star reported
street fighting of ever greater inten
sity and declared that in some case'
Germans held one story of a build.
ing while the Russians fought bach
from another.
1t was battle with bayonets ane
gun butts amid heaps of dead.
And even as the battle-grimed de-
tenders held on into the 29th day Of
siege and the 10th month of Rus
sia's war, the army newspaper re-
ported that the Germans were using
6 relays of transport planes in theil
rush to replace losses and reinforce
their assault.
29th Day of Defense.
Red Star printed a picture of q
woman volunteer at machine gun
under the caption protecting
Crossings of the Volga."
(That might indicate that the
Russians had been forced back
to the river banks in sectors near
Stalingrad or even that they were
manning defenses on the east
bank of the river. The Germans
have claimed to have reached
the Volga banks north and south
of the city,
Red Army infantry, artillery and
mortar crews, carrying the no.
retreat defense of Stalingrad into its
29th day, slew 400 Germans, de-
stroyed Is tanks, 48 supply trucks,
two armored cars and two artillery
batteries and silenced other guns
and mortars, the Soviet Informa-
ton Bureau said
It indicated that these represented
but a few of the scores of engage
ments for possession of the battered
Volga River industrial city over
which the Red flag still flies.
The Communist party newspaper
Pravda pictured incessant fighting.
Attacks don't halt" it said.
Hand o-hand clashes are going on
in the square, on street crossings
and in houses"
(The reference to "the square"
was not expanded, but it would
indicate the Germans were chal-
lenging the Russians close to II
not at the heart of Stalingrad.)
Nazis Capture a Height.
Five German tanks we're set aflre
or disabled by the defenders of
Soviet fortified positions in the
Mozdok area of the Central Cau-
casus, the Information Bureau said,
but "in another sector the Hitlerites,
at a cost of heavy losses, captured
q height and populated place"
Russians were credited with the
initiative on the northwestern front.
The communique said they pressed
back the Germans in fighting for
q town and repulsed counterattacks
More than 200 enemy dead were
left on the battlefield" it reported.
I'VE captured six mortars and sew
eral machine guns and took num-
ber of prisoners
(The Berlin radio, as if to shift
emphasis from the Stalingrad
front, declared Russian forces
had been encircled on the CEN
tral front after breaking through
German positions at two points
south of Rzhev)
White Russian guerrillas were
credited with Staying 1863 Germans,
and destruction of SO railway cars,
q ammunition trucks and about two
miles of railway tracks in a week S
fighting.
Deadly Mortar Fire Used.
Izvestia stressed report that Ger
man commanders had moved more
troops to the Stalingrad area for a
new assault intended to overwhelm
the garrison. Dispatches repeatedly
said the Red Army was pouring a
deadly mortar fire on the invaders on
the city's approaches, but made no
mention of the Russians priced big
guns.
Military leaders in Moscow eX-
pressed belief that heavy Russian
batteries were firing into the Ger
mans from the east bank of the
Volga as well as from positions in
and around Stalingrad.
Captives substantiated reports OF
large German casualties. A prisoner
from a German railway battalion
said his group. thrown into the figh,
as combat unit, lost IS per cent OF
its men.
Many Germans have beer
wounded and survivors of broker
units are sent to the rear for re-
grouping, but fresh forces still move
up.
Izvestia said the Germans rounded
I'D farmers, women and children a.
one place and drove them ahead OF
their shock troops. but Soviet auto
matte ri1emen maneuvered be-
tween and saved the civilians.
Tank Aided Infantry Repulsed.
The midnight communique said a
regiment of tank-supported Nazi in
fantry launched several attacks In
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