Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-23
Russians PRESSING
Pursuit.; Enemy
Toll Increasing
BY HENRY c. CASSIDY,
Associated Press War CORRESPONDENT

MOSCOW, Nov. ga mighty
Red Army counteroffenSive,
sprung from the northwest and
south Of Stalingrad, has put
thousands of Germans to rout,
the Russians reported today, and
the Nazi forces which have be-
sieged the Volga city vainly for
three bloody months were pic
tured as facing disastrous en-
circlement.
Broken German divisions were de-
clared fleeing across the frosty
steppes before the surge of Russian
infantrymen. guns and tanks in the
greatest Soviet offensive of the year,
adding new casualties to the $4,000
Nazis reported killed and captured
in the last few days.
Here is the story of the drive, as
given in Official Soviet announce
ments and in warfront dispatches:
Already some $1,000 Germans have
been killed and more than 10000
captured since the Russians sprang
their drive. The German besiegers
of Stalingrad have been placed in q
perilous position and the German
forces in the Caucasus are being held
to standstill as the bitter Russian
winter sets in.
Reds Astride Two Rail Lines.
The Stalingrad offensive stretched
two arms around the Germans still
holding positions in Stalingrad and
placed the Russians astride two i'm
portant railway lines used by the
Germans to supply these forces.
The offensive began, dispatches
said, with a one-hour artillery bar
rage so intense that when the firing
ceased only isolated enemy guns re-
piled. Red Army infantry and tanks
then piled through the German
front line, driving the enemy from
trenches into the open steppes.
The German front line was over
whelmed by the ferocity of the Rus
sian offensive, dispatches said Pris-
oners started to pour in and guns
and mortars piled up as the Red
Army carried the advance as far as
As miles at some points.
Pravda gave this summary of the
fight for the city:
Battles unparalleled in world
history have been raging for almost
three months in the Stalingrad area.
The enemy hurled against Stain
grad dozens Of his picked divisions
thousands Of tanks and airplsnes.
The Hitherto bandits schemed to
crush Stalingrad with tanks How
ever, in the course of two months
of fighting. they lost 800 Panzer
machines at the city walls.
The Germans intended to clear
their way into Stalingrad with
Bombs. However, in the course Of
two months, they lost in the Volga
steppes more than 1000 planes.
The Germans attempted by the
force OF their divisions to sink
Stalingrad's defenders in the Volga
But in the course of two months
they buried over 10000 OF their
officers and men.
1T was not without reason that
German non-commissioned officer
Erich Mueller, killed northwest of
Stalingrad, put down in his diary
The road to Stalingrad may be
called the road of the dead
"Stalingrad's defenders have
fought with firm conviction that
they would not only hold the city
but would drive the Hitherto hordes
away from the Volga as we'll.
Says Nazis Feel Blows.
I'm his order of the day Novem-
Der 7, Peoples Defense Commissar
i Stain stated that the day was not
distant when the enemy would feel
the might of fresh blows of the
Red Army. Now the Hitlerite hordes
feel the weight of the first fresh
blows :"
During the night OF November
1928 our troops in the Stalingrad
area continued to carry out sue
cessful operations and continued tc
move forward" the midday Rus
sian communique said.
(Ihe German high command
admitted that its troops and their
Rumanian allies were fighting
heavy defensive battles" south
| Of Stalingrad and in the Don
loop west of the city in an at
tempt to ward off the Soviets."
(The Berlin radio broadcast a
statement that German military
quarters "abstained from COM
menting" on the situation and
thus maintained their usual
reticence and refrained from dis
cussing pending military events"
(The German "reticence" ap-