Evening star., 1942-08-18
Germans Wedqe
Into Defenses
In Don Bend
By EDDY GILMORE,


MOSCOW, Aug. 18.-Red Army
troops counterattacking south.
west of Stalingrad were reported
today to have thrown the Ger.
mans into retreat and reoccu.
pied an important line even while
the invaders wedged into Dor
bend defenses above that area
and forced two more crossings Of
the Kuban River in the Krasno-
dar sector.
Military dispatches said the Rus.
sian forces generally improved theil
positions In the area above Kotel-
nikovski, where German task force
has been striking up the Stain
grad-Novorossisk rail line towaro
the Volga.
The counterattack appeared the
strongest Marshal Semeon Timo-
shenko's men had undertaken since
the invaders crossed the lower
reaches of the Don.
Several miles lost by the Russians
were regained in assaults on enemy
occupied hills and the army news
paper Red Star said several in
vasion firing points were destroyed
While shock troops occupied a
defense section, which had been
hurriedly erected by the Germans
and their Rumanian allies, other
Red Army forces strengthened their
positions guarding the lower Volga
and Stalingrad industrial center on
the Volga.
Troops Fulfilled Order.
Izvestia said Russian infantry, ar
tillery and tanks fulfilled their Or
der to halt the enemy by all means"
In the Kletskaya sector, 80 miles
northwest of Stalingrad
Pravda reported that a Russian
descent group" penetrated the Ger
man rear in this sector, fought off
attacks by German planes and
troops and killed 300 Germans in
two-day battle with two battalions
Of enemy infantry.
The dispatch did not specify
whether the descent group were
paracnutists or plane-borne troops.
On the Voronezh battlefield fierce
fighting was reported developing for
control of a section of the west bank
of the Don. Aerial activity there
was restricted temporarily by heavy
transforms.
Izvestia said Rumanian and Hun
earian troops were being hurled into
the fight in an effort to recapture
important points which the Russians
had taken in counterattacks
Battlefront dispatches said that at
one point Russian lines were pushed
back, but described the withdrawal
ss sight. South of Voronezh Axis
forces were said to have attacked five
times in futile attempt to capture
one community, while street fighting
ragged in another village nearby.
Battle Superior Nazi Forces.
Soviet infantrymen were reported
battling superior enemy forces
which penetrated their defenses on
the steppes southeast of Kletskaya.
In the last "a hours, the Soviet
Information Bureau announced, the
Russians repulsed four enemy at
tacks and killed more than 1,500
Germans
Soviet artillerymen were declared
to have wiped out more than five
companies (perhaps 1000 mem of
German infantry and destroyed II
field guns during the past two days
of the Don bend battle. where Mar
shall Fedor Won Book is making his
strongest bid for a pathway to Stall
ingrad.
The information bureau declared
80 tanks had been knocked out of
action and about 600 Germans slain
in the Krasnodar region some $50
miles to the southwest.
Implying street engagements
within Krasnodar "a farming and
factory center of more than 200 900
population on the Kuban which
the Germans claimed August g.,
communique said the Russians
(See RUSSIA. Page A-4.)