The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-17

positions defended py T1tle unltSs khe noon communique said. "Our troops repulsed the attacks. Six German tanks were disabled and burned out by anti-tank guns grenades and fuel bottles. A detach- fnent of enemy automatic riflemen were encircle dand wiped out.
 Hand Clashes
 ''On another sector, as a result of furious fighting frequently devel- pping into hand hand clashes, up to 2,200 of the enemy were wiped Nlit.
 "Southwest of Stalingrad, Soviet troops repulsed enemy infantry and tank attacks. On one sector alone, Soviet troops destroyed II tanks, thr ee armored cars, B motor ve- hicles loaded with war materials pnd killed up to 250 of the enemy"
 The German general attack on Gtalingrad was in its eighth day, and. although it was from the be- ginning one of the worlds bloodiest battles, it was growing steadily in Gury.
 Perhaps 45o,0O0 storm troopers were beating at the northwestern tefenses, and probably 1000, ,0OO altogether were engaged in the as sault.
 Large numbers of planes were thrown into the battle. More and more tanks assaulted, and their blows fell, one on top of another.
 They treated death as if it did not exist, and prisoners said regi- ments thrown into battle several days ago had been almost wiped put. Only 80 to 120 men were still alive in some regiments, they said.
 Izyestia reported that the Ger mans. to make good these fearful losses, were rushing up reinforce ments in transport planes.
 The noon communique reported that the Russians, on the offensive west of Moscow, had filled 900 Ger mans in an attack on a fortified position. Soviet artillery destroyed seven field Notifications, 26 block houses, five guns, 14 machine guns and four trench mortar batteries.
 (The xchange Telegraph Agency reported from Moscow that Lieut.. Gen. Rittau, commander of the Ger man 120th Infantry Division, had been killed in the Russian offen- Siye)
 Every Spot Is Fort
 Every building that had survived days of German terror bombing and every street intersection had been transformed into 8 center of re- sistance. Garrisons were prepared to defend every house and every street until every man was killed, pr the Germans stopped.
 Dispatches and editorials in the official newspapers indicated the Eovernment's determination to de- lend Stalingrad. as Leningrad was defended last winter, regardless of individual or collective risks or costs. Leningrad has been under siege more than a year, and Ger man front-line positions may be seen from its rooftops, but Lenin- grad still stands.
 Last midnight's Soviet communi- que acknowledged that the German supreme assault, now in its eighth day, had penetrated to the north western outskirts of Stalingrad, and the Germans now were trying to break into the city proper.
 "On the northwestern outskirts ot Etalingrad. our troops fought heavy action" the midnight communique Nr1 cnnfAFs groups of German tanks and tommy gunners drove a spearhead into our positions, but were wiped out in ensuing furious fighting.
 ITO support their depleted divi- sions, the Germans are bringing up new reserves which were engaged in fighting with our units. Forty-two German planes were brought down.
 "On another sector, our units en- gagged in attacking the enemy rout- ed Runanian regiment and a battalion of German infantry, while 13 German tanks and 9 motor ve- hicles were burned, and several enemy artillery and trench mortar batteries were silenced.
 Planes As Battering Rams
 All dispatches from the front em- phasized that the Germans were now using planes as battering rams more than tanks, probably because tanks are difficult to maneuver and easy to trap in streets fortified as are those in Stalingrad's suburbs.
 Bombers and fighters hovered over Russian positions from dawn to sunset, bombing and machine gnnning. All night, they bombed.
 The Germans, dispatches said had thrown tremendous forces of aircraft into the final phases of the battle to compensate for the terri hle losses their land forces had suf- fered in the slow advance from Kletskaya, on the Don river, 75 miles northwest of Stalingrad, to the suburbs.
 They expected even higher losses inside Stalingrad. Every house still standing, every street intersection was fortified and the city studded with machine guns, anti-tank rifles and cannon.
 These miniature citadels the Ger mans were trying to destroy by bombing, knowing that if they