Evening star., 1942-08-25
Nozis Mass Tonks Across Don
For Drive Into Sto|ingrod as
Chutists Land Behind Red Line
Russiuns Stick to
Trenches Despite
Swurms Of Planes
BY EDDY GILMORE,

Associated Press War Correspondent.
MOSCOW, Aug. 25.-The Ger
mans massed large forces OF
tanks on the eastern bank of the
Don before Stalingrad today
while dive bombers swarmed the
skies and parachutists descended
in the Don and Caucasus areas
with anti-tank guns and motor
cycles to menace further the al
ready precarious Red Army posi-
tions.
A front-line dispatch to Comsomol
Pravda, official paper of the Young
Communist organization, said the
Germans had been able to concen-
trate large masses of men and ma
chimes across the Don.
It said the Nazis brought up re-
serves during the night and at
tackled at dawn, tanks being fol-
lowed by men with automatic rifles
while planes rained down many
tons Of bombs"
The first wave was turned back,
but half hour later more bombers
appeared and another charge be-
gan. In hard hand-to- hand fight
ing the Red Army stuck to its
trenches and refused to break, this
dispatch declared. Night fighting in
that sector was featured by rocket
and tracer bullets streaking across
the sky while German siren bombs
screamed.
An account to Pravda, Communist
party paper, said the parachutists at
one place landed in sufncient
strength to permit their transport
planes to alight on an air field and
unload anti-tank guns, motor cycles
and trench mortars.
In some cases the parachutists
descended in groups of 100, 1t was
declared, anywhere from u to 18
miles behind the Soviet front lines
Nevertheless, they are not being
used on the scale the Germans EN-
ployed in the Low Countries or
Crete, apparently because German
VI 0AASkOAu RAd1lC Sl1 CllSL1l 1ldS UCCu
weakened, Pravda said.
The Soviet Information Bureau
communique said the Germans who
crossed the Don had succeeded in
making an advance southeast of
Kletskaya in fierce fighting, but
that the Russians were repulsing
new attacks and inf1icting heavy
losses on the heavily-supported
Nazis. IA
Stalingrad's Life Normal.
The invaders also have driven to
the Prokhladnenski area, IS miles
northeast of the oil town OF Gromy,
but 200 men of a NaM mountain
detachment were killed there and
an attack in many times greater"
strength was repulsed, the infor-
nation bureau said.
Although the Germans were throw
ing in large forces less than 40
miles from Stalingrad, life in that
industrial center was reported con-
tinuing at normal but fast tempo.
Factories work night and day and
barges Of fresh supplies unload con-
stantly, said Pravda.
"a Stockholm report relayed
VIA Reuters said the situation
before Stalingrad was most seri-
Gus, with battles already raging
80 miles from the city. The
German high command reported
progress in the drive toward
Stalingrad, advances in passes of
the Caucasus Mountins, and said
the German war flag now f1oated
over Mount Elborus, highest peak
in Europeo
Stains Appeal Revived.
A series of engagements in the
four active sectors of the Stalingrad-
Causasus front was declared to have
cost the Germans ,450 dead and "a
tanks damaged or destroyed, but the
Soviet position in the south was
never more critical.
In the face of setbacks, the Moscow
radio revived Premier Joseph Stains
May Day demand for the final de-
feat OF Germany this year and Rus
sian soldiers-their lines fluid but
still intact-again were urged to
stand their ground.
The German advance from a Don
bend bridgehead bloodily established
some 40 miles from Stalingrad was
of unspecified extent. The Soviet
Information Bureau said six enemy
attacks had been repulsed in one
sector by Red Army men who de-
stroyed 13 tanks and killed 40 Ger
mans, and Soviet artillery was re-
ported to have dispersed and partly
wiped out large tank and infantry
column in another area.
A Pravda dispatch. apparently re-
ferring to an action before the Ger
man advance reported by the Soviet
Information Bureau, said Russians
pledged on the field to fight to the
death, had recaptured "importan,
dominating hills" in counterattacks
and driven the invaders back sew.
eral miles.
The pincer action against Stain.
grad from the direction of Kotelni.
kovski, 95 miles to the southwest
was developed by tank wedge int
Soviet lines, although Red Star sale
(See RUSSIA, Page AID
~ NJ ne