Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-29
Russians Gain on 3OO-Mi|e Front
FromUkraine toKa|myck Steppes;
Trapped Nazis Supplied by Plane
Germans Brucino
For Big Battle at
koteInikovski
BY EDDY GILMORE,

MOSCOW, Dec. 29.-Col. Gen
Nikolai F. Vatutin's Russian
Armies Of the south thrust for
ward today along a 3O0-mile
front spread fanwise from No
vaya Kalitva, just south of Ros-
sosh, at the edge OF the Ukraine
to Kichkino, deep in the wind
swept Kalmyck steppes.
Where this front cuts across the
Stalingrad- Tikhoretsk railway the
Russians reported SIN h in 6
through Nazi outer defenses to
capture Nagolny, three miles south
OF Kotelnikovski, where the Ger
mans braced for terrific struggle
The Russian onsurge closed ir
from three sides of Kotelnikovski,
the important rail line citadel, and
stood astride some highways of es-
cape at its rear.
The rail line town of Millerovo
100 miles north of Rostov, also was
hard pressed as the Russians fought
their way into Ternovy, 2 miles
northwest of the town. Millerovo
had already been by-passed and vir-
tually cut off.
Locked far in the rear of this
Russian arc of steel, Field Marshal
Fedor Won Books % Nazi divisions
remained surrounded before Stain
grad within an enlightenment which
the Russians daily report drawing
tighter.
Nazis Supplied by Air.
This huge force still is capable
of furious resistance, and Russian
dispatches indicated that it showed
no signs of sudden weakening. 1t
is supplied by air only, and the
Russians reported shooting down
the German transport planes like
clay pigeons.
Battlefront dispatches described
the corridor which the Red Army
has driven between this trapped
force and the main German Army
as growing wider daily while the
Russians expanded their hold across
the middle Don steppe and along
the Stalingrad-Likhaya rail line
The front is composed of these
three related operations:
/. Southwest of Stalingrad, where
the Red Army has moved within
light artillery range of Kotelni-
kovski, closing In on three sides of
the town.
A second Russian force has knitted
into the Kalmyck steppe to the
south, tanning out over a vast area
and taking Kichkino, AZ miles north
OF Elisha, the Kalmyck capital.
Third Force in Don Elbow.
A third force has driven up inside
the Don elbow northwest of Kotelni-
kovski, where the Russians were re-
ported yesterday within As miles of
juncture with troops from the
north This would close a second
trap around the Nazis to the east
2. The fight around Millerovo,
where the Russian drive across the
Middle Don has pushed on into the
eastern Ukraine and wedged south
within 100 miles of Rostov at the
mouth of the Don on the Sea of
Azov.
Millerovo, 100 miles north of
Rostov. was virtually surrounded,
and the Russians announced that
they had stormed settlement after
settlement southeast of the town.
penetrating to the western portion
of the Stalingrad-Likhaya Railway
That line crosses the Donets River
and joins the Rostov- Moscow main
line at Likhaya, 10 miles north of
Rostov.
3. On the Ukraine front, the Rus
slams reported the capture of ebert
kov, 30 miles northwest of Millerovo
and battlefront dispatches said
other nearby towns had been won
back under the Red banner in a
continuing advance.
Weather Extremely Cold.
Dispatches from the middle Don
front said the Germans were rush
Ing up reinforcements. but that the