Evening star., 1942-07-29
Great German Force
Moving Against
kushchevku
b the Associated Press.

eS tFt Associated PreSS.
MOSCOW, July 29.-The Rus
sian defense of the Caucasus
showed signs of stiffening to-
day as the steadily reinforced
German drive across the lower
Don shaped into spearheads
toward Kushchevka, Salsk and
the Tikhoretsk-S -Stalingrad rail-
road linking the oil fields to Gen.
trail Russia.
A communique said the Red Army
was displaying stubborn resistance"
after being forced back in the
Bataisk area, Is miles south of Ros-
tov along the main railway to the oil
port of Baku. Kushchevka is sta
ton on this line As miles south of
Rostov.
The Germans also were meeting
stiff resistance against a secondary
thrust developing down a spur line
angling southeast from Bataisk to
the junction with the Tikhoretsk-
Stalingrad railway at Salsk, 100
miles southeast of Rostov.
Try to Enlarge Bridgeheads.
Farther up the Don, midway be-
tween Rostov and Stalingrad, the
Germans battled fiercely under
shellfire and bombing in an attempt
to enlarge at least three bridgeheads
on the south bank of the river IN
the Tsimlyansk area, where the Don
flows within IS miles Of the last
rail line between Russia and the
Caucasus.
CThe German high command
said the Russians were being
pushed back despite stubborn re-
sistance, and reported that its
troops had crossed the Sal and
Manych Rivers, tributaries which
enter the Don from the south.
The Sal is 20 miles south of the
Don in the TsimlyanSk region,
and the Manych is 40 miles south
of the Don midway between the
Sal and Rostov)
Izvestia, the government news
paper. said Russian airmen, some OF
them flying United States-made
Airacobra fighters, had shot down
122 German planes in aerial COM
bat over the North Caucasus and
Don bend battlefields.
There were apparently three objec-
tives-seizure of Caucasus oil, neu-
tralization of Red Navy bases on the
Black Sea coast and dispatch OF
forces eastward toward the Caspian
Sea and industrial Stalingrad, which
already is menaced by German
forces moving eastward in the Don
bend.
CThe Rome radio declared
Stalingrad had been placed under
fire from heavy German gunso
Greater Firmness Urged.
Red Star. the army newspaper,
said the Russian resistance had
stiffened since the abandonment OF
Rostov, but demanded that COM
manders and soldiers show greater
firmness in the face of the enemy.
Fresh German gains were recorded
in both the Bataisk and Tsimlyensk
sectors of the Caucasus.
The Communist party newspaper
Pravda said every Russian man and
woman should learn how to use a
gun and ''it Is the duty of each
citizen to be ready at any minute
to join the ranks of the Red Army"
POSSIBLY hoping to complicate
any re-alignment of Russian re-
serves, German planes dropped
leaflets over Leningrad declaring
that the Germans soon would
storm that city Leningrad has
been a northwestern anchor of
the Russian front, besieged and
under sporadic bombardments,
more than II months)
Bataisk Retreat Admitted.
A communique acknowledged a
Red Army retreat in the Bataisk
sector, but said this came only after
the Germans had moved up fresh
troops. (The German high COM
mand asserted that Bataisk was cap
tured Monday)
Our men are displaying stub
born resistance to the attacking
enemy units" the Soviet Informa-
ton Bureau said. During yester-
day in one sector they disabled 10
German tanks and killed 100 enemy
officers and men,
Even while reporting that the in
vaders had made another crossing
of the Don in the Tsimlyansk
region, 120 miles northeast of Ros-
TOW. the bureau said Soviet bombers
and assault planes alone-some
from United States factories-had
destroyed 36 German tanks and LOG