Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-01-14
Soviets Unchecked
By Rains and Foes
Attempted Stand
BY HENRY c. CASSIDY,
Associated Press War Correspondent

Associated Press War Correspondent.
MOSCOW, Jan. 14.-The Red
Army'S comeback drive through
the Caucasus was reported today
tanning out wider on both sides
Of the Rostov-Baku trunk line
as separate spearheads of the as
sault stabbed on through towns
more than 20 miles west and so
miles north of recaptured Min
eralnye Vody.
Despite German attempts at a
stand, the Russians were broadening
their offensive front in fighting I'M
checked by steady rains and wet
snow which begged the fertile val
ley fields with mud and water.
A dozen towns were won back I'M
der the Red banner in the continu-
ing drive, officials announced.
German reports that the Russians
had launched new offensives against
the Leningrad siege line or on the
Voronezh front to the north of the
Don bend were not confirmed here.
Neither communicates nor battle
front dispatches mentioned these
sectors.
Tanks Lead Russian Drive.
Dispatches announcing the recap
ture OF Novo Bladgodarnoye placed
the Russian advance more than 20
miles west of the spa town of Miner
alnye Vody, recaptured early this
week.
Another arm Of the offensive
swept through Kumagorsky and on
past Zhuravskoye, so miles north of
Mineralnye Vody.
In between, on the Strengthened
front, the Russians reported Selling
the little towns of Kalaborka, Or
belianovka and Pobegailovskoye in
the heart of some of the most in
tensively farmed land in the eau
casus.
Battlefront accounts said tanks
led the Russian advance, breaking
up Nazi counterattacks along high
ways and rail lines of the Kuma
River Valley near Kumagorsky.
Red Star, mouthpiece of the Rus
sian Army, said a large German
force had been surrounded in one
Caucasian settlement and was un-
der the combined attacks of tanks
and Cossack cavalry.
Counterattack Repulsed.
In one unspecified sector of the
Caucasus battle the early morning
Russian communique reported that
German infantry and tank coun-
terattack was repulsed with IA tanks
destroyed and the infantry turned
by a flank attack that accounted
for 100 German dead.
(The German news agency
DNB was quoted by Reuters,
British news agency, as conced-
ing last night that Soviet tanks
had broken the Axis main line in
the Caucasus)
In the battle to clear the Germans
out of Stalingrad, the city's defend
ers, who had broken through to the
western suburbs, consolidated their
positions and killed about 400 in
vaders as they threw back counter
attacks, the communique said.
(The Moscow correspondent of
Reuters reported in London that
high-ranking German officers
were leaving the Stalingrad area
by planeD
Furnishing blows again were rained
on the Germans southwest of Velikie
Luki as the Russian troops fought
of enemy attacks, the communique
noted.
Reds Renew Jibes.
The early Russian communique
depressed from operations reports to
jibe again at German reports that
their troops were taking Soviet pris-
oners who chiefly were 15-year-old
boys and men of so or more.
How then could such an army
lnflict grave defeats upon the multi
millioned German Army and hurl
the German Fascist troops over hun
dreds of kilometers westward, liber-
ate about 1000 populated places in
the Stalingrad area. and recapture
in the course of stiff engagements
Nalchik, MoZdok, Mineralnye
Vody, and many other towns?"
the communique asked.
1T appears that the German Army
has sunk so low that it retreats,
abandoning tanks, guns, trucks and
(ammunition) dumps in the face of
15-year-old boys and old men wear
ing Red Army greatcoats."
A broadcast by the German
Transocean Agency asserted the
Russians had begun a new offensive
in the Voronezh area but that air
reconnaissance had prepared the
Germans for the attacks, which
they broke up with concentrated
fire.
Veronezh is 300 miles northwest
OF Stalingrad. 1t is one of the an
chors of the Russian line. The Ger
mans have not been able to take it..
From time to time in recent weeks
they have reported such an Often
sive brewing and have said that
their air force attacked troop con-
centrations in the area.
The Russians have not mentioned
any developments in the sector but
Russian offensives this winter
usually have gotten well under way
before an official announcement
has been made. An offensive from
Voronezh could be directed at
Kharkov and Kursk, strongpoints
of the German position in the
Ukraine.
The Germans also reported re-
newed activity in the area between
Lake linen and Lake Ladoga, the
Leningrad front. Military observ-
ers in London remarked that Mar
shall Semeon Timoshenko recently
had been transferred to the Lenin-
grad area and said that this presaged
new Russian moves there.
British military analysts said that
Russian offensive near Leningrad
would aim at dispensing German
reserves who have maintained their