The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-16
But SOuthward TOward' Don River SteamrOller Ot Nazis Brushes Them GERMANS 70 MILES
 NEAR STALINGRAD Nazi Army Divisions From France Now Battling on
 Russian Front
BY HENRY SHAPIRO United Press Staff Correspondent)

NOMte0 freSS Sta1t COrreSpOn0entD
 Moscow, July 16. - (UP) - The Axis steam roller is pushing through southern Russia toward the Volga at an accelerated tempo and military observers believed tonight that a decisive battle may be expected east of the Don River bend in defense of Stalingrad.
 The enemy advance through Boguchar and Millerovo in con- verging offensive aimed at flank ing Rostov, striking across the Don ing the Caucasus was regarded here ing the Caucasus was regerded here as the most serious threat of 13 months of war, overShadowlng the great battle still raging around Voronezh.
 Should the enemy reach Stalin- grad the effect would be almost ca tastrophic. The Russians said they were nourishing on illusions. They are making no effort to conceal or under estimate the strategic or morale consequences of such blow. (That seemed to indicate that the Red Army, fighting a strong rear guard action, was falling back to the curving Don River defense line, only 50 miles from Stalingrad on the Volga. The German conmuni- que claimed that Axis forces were pursuing the retreating Russians and had encircled large numbers. German air attacks were reported against Russian columns and on Rostov and cities and ports on the Black Sea)
 The urgent necessity for defense of Stalingrad and the Volga river line running southeastward to the Caspian Sea, only 50 miles from Asiatic Russia, has convinced r = tary observers that one of the r. t decisive battles of the war may de- velop in that sector.
 They believe that the struggle may center on the easternmost bend of the Don river, where it curves to within 50 miles of Stalingrad and thus leaves a narrow sector between the Don and the western bank of the Volga.
 Great War Center
 Stalingrad, great industrial and war center, has population of 400, 900 and it dominates the lower reaches of the Volga, down to Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea. The river is the most vital trade and industrial artery of the Soviet Union and the last land link between Eu- ropean Russia and the Caucasus.
 Loss of this link not only would sever the armies of Marshal Sem- yon Timoshenko, but would deprive the country of the Baku oil produce tions leaving only the inadequate trans-CaSpian route for Allied War supplies via Iran.
 (This dispatch from Shapiro was one of the bluntest to come through the Russian censorship in recent months Moscow newspapers req gently have been emphasizing the danger of the Axis GS:Se toward Stalingrad as additional reason for an Allied attempt to open second front in western Europe in orde1 to divert Hitler'S strength)
 Heavy fighting, including persist ent Russian counter-attacks, con- tinued to hold back the German as- sault in and around Voronezh, on the north flank of the enemy drive into the bend of the Don river. There also was intensified fighting on the Rzhev, Briansk and Lake linen fronts, but all appeared to te minor or diversionaly in com- parison to the southern offensive.
 Nazis Pay Terrific Price
 'AThe enemy Spearhead toward Stalingrad has advanced another 70 miles from Lisichansk to the Mil-
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