The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-08-26
They Are Closing in on Stalingrad From Three
 Different Fronts
RUSSIANS IN FIERCE
 FIGHT OF RESISTANCE
Battlefront Extends lO5 Miles in Lengttl-Raging
 in All Sections
BY HENRY SHAPIRO United Press Staff Correspondent)

United Press Staff Correspondent
 Moscow, August 26. - A German battle force of 750,000 men, spearheaded by an estimated 25 armored di-' visions, was reported today closing in on Stalingrad from three directions despite fierce Soviet resistance. Soviet reports placed Nazi advance guards less than 40 miles from Stalingrad due west of the vital Volga river industrial and communications center.
 Front-line dispatches said the Germans are approaching Stalin- grad from the northwest. west and southwest with crushing pressure that is crowding the Soviet defend- CTS into an ver-narrowing defensive front.
 One of the dangerous Nazi thrustS that moving down on Stalingrad from the northwest-was said to have been checked, at least tempor- arily, but there was no indication that the German push was losing any of its momentum.
 75 Miles of City
 The Germans were placed about 75 miles northwest of Stalingrad, and 85 miles southwest of the city in addition to the deep penetration due west of Stalingrad.
 Fighting was said to be raging over a rectangular front area about 105 miles long and 40 miles wide between the Dow, the Stalingrad- Novorossisk railroad and the Volga.
 The Red Army organ Red Star reported that at some points Soviet counter attacks were successful in checking the Germans with consid- erable losses but the entire front was regarded as critical.
 In the North Caucasus, the Ger mans were advancing rapidly be- hind the retreating Russian forces south of Krasnodar.
 It was reported the NaZiS at- tempted to capture some important mountain heights before the Soviets prepared their defenses and at one point almost succeeded in ousting the Russians but counter-attack saved the position.
 Huge German Panzer and in- fantry forces had crashed through Russian lines, bulwarked by reserve forces, which Marshal Semyon Timoshenko was sending into action.
 Wedge Presses Ahead
 The wedge advanced straight for Stalingrad and the Volga River line with the Russians desperately ham. mering it. Finally. after "an ex- ceptionally heavy battle with Soviet tank forces near inhabited points, it was checked, dispatches to the army organ Red Star said.
 Nevertheless, the situation grew more grave by the hour. German planes bombed StalingrAd, . city of 290,oOo people, in waves. trying to reduce it to the rubb1e and ashes in which they had left the Crimaan fortress city of Sevastopol.
 (The Italian radio said Stalingrad was burning after the heaviest German air attack. Numerous building in the city have been destroyed after repeated hits and are t1ercely burning" it said. "The Central Railway station is afame.'D
 German losses were fearful, but 1t was not doubted that they would pour more men, more tanks, and more planes across the great bend of the river Don in an effort to take one of Adolf Hitler's most coveted objectives.
 (An lillian radio broadcast said the suburbs of Stalingrad, sprawl ing on both sides of the Volga, had
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