Evening star., 1942-07-20
Reds Fall Back 7 7oword Rostov,
But Gain in Voronezh Sector:
1imoshenko to Make Newsstand
Germans Rush Up
Superior Numbers
Of Men, Machines
D. the Associated Press.

D. the Associated Press.
MOSCOW, July 20.-The Re
Army fell back toward Rostov to
day in the gigantic, wasting bat
tie of the Don steppes as the Ger
mans rushed up superior mum
bers of men, tanks and othe
weapons in an impressive bid TO
that key to the Caucasus.
Marshal Semeon Timoshenko wa
assembling all his available force
In an orderly retreat for a stan
somewhere along a 40-mile stretc
from abandoned Voroshilovgrad t
the battle-ground south of Millerovt
While the stage thus was bein
set for momentous new struggle
the Russians reported significan
new successes around their ancho
bastion of Voronezh to the nortl
which now resembled a doubled ifs
In the German flank.
Main Bridgehead Taken.
In hand-to-hand fighting, tn
Russians took one main German
bridgehead pointed across the Dol
at Voronezh after heavy defeat o
the invaders 18th Division.
Other counterattacking defender
Of the city grappled with the Ger
mans south and west of Voronezf
on the banks of the Don.
(This appeared to mean that
the Germans had been driven
back from the city's environs on
all sides. Previous dispatches
have indicated the Germans had
been routed to the north of the
city and been held off to the
south but had held on to the
western outskirts. Voronezh is
about 10 miles east of the Don.
(The Germans communique
declared Russian attempts to re
capture Voronezh" had been
beaten off.
(The controlled Paris
radio reported today that Nazi
d lie ia c h m Mt IS had reached
Shakhty, coal mining and rail-
road town only 40 miles north of
Rostov. No similar claim had
yet been made in Berlin)
Reds Keep Lines Intact.
The Red Army above Rostov
while yielding ground slowly, re-
fused to let its lines be broken de-
spite the fury of German 'armored
attacks, bombing and para
chutist landings in its rear. said Rus
sian dispatches from the front.
These asserted that the forces which
retreated from Voroshilovgrad were
being absorbed in an orderly man.
ner into the main forces.
Meanwhile, it was reported that
the Russians had had time to bring
up help from the strong armies gar
risoning the Northern Caucasus to
bolster Marshal Timoshenko's fight
ers, who have been retreating for 10
days in the area between the Donets
and the Don.
Russian reports made no attempt
to minimize the territorial losses
suffered in the Donets and Don Val
leys. The Germans now are in the
midst OF $500 square miles of BIZ
luminous and anthracite coal mines,
containing cities with important
foundries and metal working plants
Nazis Approaching Kamensk.
The Russians, who had vacated
Voroshilovgrad, 100 miles north OF
Rostov and so miles southwest OF
Millerov, were now able to concen-
trate their forces before Rostov as
the Germans beat southwark along
the Moscow-Rostov railway line
Apparently the Germans were ap-
preaching Kamensk where the line
crosses the Donets River. Kamensk
is IS miles north of Rostov, and As
miles east of Voroshilovgrad
(The Germans claim already
to have severed a railway which
runs south of Kamensk)
German tanks have played an i'm
pressive role in this southern drive,
and the desperate nature of the
struggle was tacitly indicated by a
self-searching article in Pravda, the
Communist party organ which told
Red artillerymen the issue is up to
them.
Recalling that Joseph Stain had
declared artillery is the god of
war" Pravda said sometimes Red
Army guns had been so scattered
that the Germans had been able to
concentrate tanks between them and
then rush through.
The party organ urged better
reconnaissance to locate enemy
tank concentrations.
Nazis Appear Stalled.
While the Germans pushed south
and the Russians grew stronger
around Voronezh there still was no
word of the Nazi eastward drives
from Boguchar and Millerovo toward
Stalingrad on the Volga bend. Ap-
parently the German drives in that
direction were stalled.
In the Voronezh sector the Red
Army held its recaptured positions
on the west bank of the Don after
a recrossing of that stream where
1t fought heavy forces, including
the 9Th and 7th Hungarian Brigades
supported by 10 tanks. The Hitler
forces tried to encircle the Russian
bridgehead, but We're reported beat
en- off, with a Hungarian brigade
put to fight and Ia tanks DESTROYED
The Russian recapture of the Ger
mans bridgehead on the east bank
cut their shortest ro,,te to br;po nv,