Evening star., 1942-07-27
Nazis Hur| Huge Reinforcements
In Drive Against North Caucasus;
Hamburg Is Heavily Hit by Raj
Furious Assault
Made to Widen
Don FoothoIds
By the Associated Press,

0t lDt AsSoClaleu Press.
MOSCOW, July 27.-The Ger
mans hurled into battle today
the great weight of reinforce.
ments they have massed for the
campaigns against the North
Caucasus and Stalingrad on the
Volga, sending tanks and planes
in a furious assault in an effort
to widen their footholds south
of the Don River near Tsimly-
ensk.
The Russian air force, using some
United States bombers and fighters
pounded the moving column of Ger
man men and guns by daylight anc
under the nearly full moon by night
The whole steppe land was eerie
with flames. Bombs burst over grea,
areas OF the gentle, grassy slopes
and the plains waist-high with
grain
The Russians reported they were
holding their positions against the
tremendous onslaught.
Railway Heavily Bombed.
The Stalingrad- -Tikhoretsk Rail-
way, last rail link with the Caucasus
undoubtedly has undergone heavy
bombings. There were, however, nc
reports suggesting that German land
forces had reached this line, which
runs south of the Don barely SO
yoi1cc fro,,o rTciy,, lyopcly
Along the rail line where it comes
nearest to the Don River are three
typical Cossack villages. They are
Kotelnikovo, 100 miles southwest of
Stalingrad and 20 miles south of
the Don: Sal on the river Sal, 20
miles southeast of Kotelnikovo, and
Zimoyniki, 20 miles farther south
west along the line and about 100
miles northeast of Tikhoretsk, juno
ton with the main Caucasus rail-
way.
The German high command
said its troops had smashed
across the Don and captured the
strongly fortified and tenacious
ly defended town" of Bataisk,
20 miles south of Rostov on the
rail line to the Caucasus oil port
of Baku)
Already, 30 German tanks have
been put out of action in one sec
tor alone, the midday Russian COM
munique said. The tank battle Is
continuing as the Germans seek to
cross the Don simultaneously in
several places.
Earlier the Russians had acknowl-
edged the establishment of at least
two German bridgeheads in the
Tsimlyansk area.
Our men have pinned down nu-
merically superior enemy forces and
are preventing them from advanc-
Ing" the Russian communique said.
Rostov Mercilessly Hammered.
At the same time, the Germans
hammered mercilessly at Rostov
with some success and the Russians
said that at one point the Nazi drive
had broken into the heart of the
Soviet defenses at tremendous cost.
In few hours, the Russians said,
the Germans lost 20 tanks and more
than 700 men. The Russians con-
tinued to insist that the heaviest
battles still were being fought on
the outskirts of Rostov, although
the Germans already have an
nounced capture of the city.
On the Bryansk front, southwest
OF Moscow, the Russians reported a
new surge of activity and claimed
the capture of height "of consid
cradle importance" and the routing
of the 10th German Mechanized
Regiment.
Twenty German tanks were re-
ported disabled and 1850 Germans
killed The rest of the regiment,
about 300 men, were taken prisoner
the communique said.
From their bridgeheads on the
Don near Tsimlyansk, the Germans
(See RUSSIA, Page A-6.)