Imperial Valley press., 1942-07-13
StoIin9rod New
Enemy Objective

neighborhood of Gobuchar, 100
miles west of Stalingrad, and Lisi-
chansk, only 100 miles north of
Rostov.
(The Vichy radio, frequently in
accurate, said the Germans had
started a fourth spearhead driving
directly eastward on Rostov from
Taganrog, go miles to the west, and
that in the Lisichansk sector fight
ing now was in progress in the out
skirts of Voroshilovgrad, 100 miles
north of Rostov)
The German high command threw
everything 1t could into the 100
mile front between Boguchar. at the
northern end of the great bend of
the Don. and Lisichansk to. the
south toward Rostov.
BITTER FIGHTING
The noon communique reported
bitter fighting throughout the night
before Voronezh, at the north end
OF the line. and in the Boguchar
sector where the German spearhead
pointed directly toward Stalinerad
German forces, steadily reinforc-
ed, were reported to be suffering
heavy losses.
In one tiny sector, fighting for a
village, the Germans lost II anti
tank guns, Is machine guns. three
trench mortars and 300 men killed
the noon communique reported.
NO doubt was left that the bitter
battle for the Don had entered a
critical phase.
RAILROAD CUT
The mainline Moscow -Rostov
railroad and the Don had been crt
at two points.
Moscow's sole link with the eau
casus was by roundabout route to
the east. Stalingrad was within
easy range of the German air force
(Axis reports said that the Ger
man planes already had opened a
heavy attack on Rostov)
From Lisichansk the Germans
now were believed to be driving
toward the important railroad town
of Likhaya, 80 miles to the south
east and only 70 miles northeast of
Rostov, in an attempt to capture
that junction of the MoScow-Ros-
tov and Stalingrad-Rostov railroads.
(Vichy, without giving its source.
asserted that the Germans had
taken Bielovodsk. 60 miles north
east of Lisichansk, and two other
towns in the areaD =
REDS WITHDRAW
The heu army command admitted
in its midnight communique that
the Russians withdrew about so
miles from Kantemirovka to the
Boguchar area, where they fought
to hold the advancing enemy.
In a similar withdrawal under the
Russian defense in depth policy
which stopped the Germans last
year, the Russians retired to new
positions east of Lisichansk, it was
said.
1t was emphasized that Lisichansk
was evacuated only by direct order
of the high command to the men
in the line.
The communique implied that
Voronezh, at the northern end of
the 200-mile German attack line.
still was in Russian hands with the
Germans continuing to pay dearly
for their attacks in that area.
DELIBERATE RETREAT
"Our troops engaged in violent
fighting at the approaches to Vor-
onezh,' the midnight communique
said. "A number of positions chang
ed hands several times
There was every indication that
the Russians were drawing back de-
liberately, calculating the time to
give way at each individual sector
after inflicting the largest possible
losses on the enemy.
On one small sector, the COM
munique noted, the Germans lost
900 killed in series of frontal
attacks. 1t seemed certain that the
main attacks were costing the Ger
mans tens of thousands of lives.
The ratio of losses was empha-
sized by high command announce
ment that in fighting last week the
Germans lost 583 planes to 225 for
the Russians.
Relative quiet was reported along
the front north of the Voronezh
area.