Imperial Valley press., 1942-08-06
MENACE GROWS

ADMITTED, ana The 0trindllS Hidut
new gains south of Belaya Gina.
MENACE GROWS
The entire territory south of Ro-
stov between the Rostov-Tikhoretsk
Caucasus railroad was endangered
and the threat to the Maikop oil
fields and the Black Sea naval base
of Novorossisk increased hourly.
Stockholm heard rumors. un-
confirmed, that Russian engineers
had started scorched-earth destruc-
ton of the Maikop fields, at the
northern side of the formidable
Caucasus mountains, from which
Russia gets its highest grade avia-
tion gasoline
Stalingrad, the great industrial
center sprawled on both banks of
the Volga, was imperiled by Ger
man pincers thrusts from Klet-
skaya, 20 miles to the northwest
and Kotelnikovski, 80 miles TO the
southwest
At Kletskaya alone were the Rus
slams holding their lines.
FIGHTING RETREAT
Admitting a new enemy advance
south of Belaya Glina, on the
norsh Caucasus battle line, the
noon communique said that Russian
Il finlafiyao
But special dispatches told of
German adyanceS all along the
line and of a desperate Russian
resistance from every ditch, stream
and hillock in open fighting.
Don and Kuban Cossacks, includ-
ing dismounted forces. were in the
forefront of some of the fiercest
fighting Of the war south of Kush-
chevka, and they at least slowed
the enemy advance.
COUNTER-ATTACK
In one sector, entrenched behind
a small river in which many Of
them had been fishing a few days
ago, they stopped the Germans
and then went over the top in a
fierce counter attack.
In a nearby sector, Russians de-
tending tiny elevation held their
post for 48 hours under continuous
attack supported by massed enemy
artillery and air bombardment, and
at last report they were still there,
alive or dead
A group of German sub-machine
gunners who forced a way between
two hillocks were wiped out.
"Defendersl Deal blow for blow, -
the official army newspaper Red
Star exhorted the Caucasus troops.
Strain every nerve. Make water
obstacles, hillocks and inhabited
points impossible barriers"
PIPE LINE THREATENED
But the enemy was fast ap-
preaching, in SO far irresistible
force, the broad reaches of the Ku-
ban river and, below Kushchevka
they Immediately threatened the
Armayir railroad and oil pipe line
junction, already useless to the
Russians.
On the Stalingrad front the Rus
slams held firm along the Don at
Kletskaya. Tank and airplane
fighting intensified steadily and
both sides threw in tank and plane
reinforcements as the decisive
phase OF the battle started
The Germans attacked repeatedly
but vainly with tanks and motor
lied infantry, supported by swarms
of dive bombers, in an attempt TO
break through TO the southern bank
of the Don river bend in the Klet-
skaya sector, dispatches said.
In the Kotelnikovski area where
the southern German claw was
reaching toward Stalingrad, the
Russians were compelled to retreat
eastward at several points, it was
admitted, after oay ana nlgnt dt-
tacks by German motorized forces
supported by tanks.
Dispatches said that the Russians
had repulsed many attacks at 9TH
er points along the Stalingrad-
Caucasusu railroad, but emphasized
that the Germans were attacking
In great strength.
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