Evening star., 1942-08-20
British Projecting Fresh Assaults
Against Nazi Defenses in France:
Reds Launch h Drive on Four Fronts
Russians Hold on
DoggedIy Before
StoIingrod

MOSCOW, Aug. 20.-The Red
Army has taken the initiative in
battles developing on four key
Central Russian fronts along the
400 miles from Bryansk to Lake
| linen while holding doggedly
before Stalingrad. battlefront
dispatches reported today.
Centers of the Russian attack
were listed as the Bryansk front
2l0 miles southwest of Moscow
the salient 1870 miles west of MascaW
In the wanna area; the Kalanin-
Rzhev salient, 1870 miles northwest
OF the capital, and the Lake linen
front south of Leningrad.
(This was the first specific
mention Of Red Army offensives
on these fronts in Russian dis
patches, although German COM
munlques for days have told of
desperate resistance there by
Nazl forces hurled onto the de-
fensive by strong Soviet attacks)
Heavy Enemy Toll.
No complete details of the central
campaigns were given, but the Rus
slams said they had taken a heavy
toll OF garrison forces left to man
the central and northern battle
line while the Nazis massed their
greatest strength for the Don bend
and Caucasus offensive.
Great losses were suffered bv the
Germans on the Bryansk. western.
kalinin and northwestern fronts,
where the initiative in active mill
tary operations belongs to our
troops said Red Star, the army
newspaper.
Inc Russians apparently were
striking out along this whole line
in carefully-timed series of sharp
assaults.
Southwest of Stalingrad, a see
saw battle was reported in progress
Tor railway station on the eau
casian line from Kotelnikovski. o5
miles away.
In the south, where the Germans
concentrated ever-reinforced troon
and air strength, the Russians said
some Axis troops had forced
crossing in the elbow of the Don
IN their drive on Stalingrad, but
were completely wiped out" on the
east bank.
krasnodar Surrendered,
While the Russians on the steppes
between the Don and the Volga
tnus were reported to have ac-
counted for Nazi bridgeheads, the
Soviet defenders again withdrew in
the battle of the western Caucasus
behind screening cavalry counterat-
tacks, and the Kuban city of Kras-
nodar was left in the hands of the
Germans.
CThe German high command
claimed Krasnodar August 9. the
same day it announced the fall of
Malkop, the oil field center 60
miles to the southeast, which was
ruined by the Russians in a
scorched earth retreat)
While details of the trans-Don en-
gagement were few, the Soviet In
formation Bureau said that "in one
sector alone about II enemy tanks
were destroyed and more than 500
Germans were killed"
Several Russian counterattacks
were launched in the area of Klets-
kaya, within the Don bend, 80 miles
northwest of Stalingrad, and seven
enemy tanks were destroyed and a
German infantry battalion was
routed, it was announced.
1900 Reported Killed.
More than 1000 Germans were
reported killed and 70 tanks de-
stroyed or burned out in action
yesterday and the communique said
$500 Germans were slain and Nazi
materiel heavily damaged during
the last five days about Voronezh.
a battle-scarred city on the upper
Don.
The German crossing of the Don
elbow, one objective of a campaign
launched by Field Marshal Fedor
Won Block from the Kursk- -Kharkov
(See RUSSIA, Page A-14)