Evening star., 1943-01-26
Nazis Increase
Resistance on
Rostov Route
Russians, Spurred by
Stains Order, Press
Advance, However
BY EDDY GILMORE.

Premier Stain for the first time
signed himself supreme COM
mander of the Red Army, Rus
sia's fighting forces pushed their
battle lines ahead in the Ukraine
and the Caucasus today and bat
tied against growing German re-
siStance in the lower Don ap-
proacheS to RoStov.
Forward for the routing of the
German invaders and their expul-
sion over the boundaries of our
motherland, was the Premiers rail-
lying cry.
CThe German high command
asserted today that Russian
thrusts on wide part of the
eastern front increased in vio-
lence yesterday
1t was recalled that Stalins words
mot step backward" rang out
over the defenses of Stalingrad in
its darkest hour last fall and from
that time on the defenders of the
battered city braced and held.
Premier Praises Troops.
The Premier's praise of his troops
commanders and workers was con-
tanned in an order of the day. broad
cast by the Moscow radio at a time
when RuSsia's armies were forging
ahead on every front from Lenin-
grad to the Caucasus.
Stain declared the Red Army had
driven forward 245 miles in two
months Of their second winter Of
fensive, routing 102 enemy divisions
and capturing 100000 prisoners.
Our troops have won an import
ant victory" he said. and he added:
The offensive of our troops con-
tinues'
1t may be hard to realize outside
the Soviet Union what effect a pro-
nouncement of Stain has. 1t sweeps
over this vast country by radio and
newspapers and spreads through
cities by word of mouth.
His order of the day followed spe-
cial and regular communicates which
reported the recapture of all of
VoroneZh from the Germans who
had held western section of the
city since the summer of 1912. and
which announced new gains in the
Caucasus and the drive southwest of
Voronezh toward the German base
at Kharkov.
Nazis Resist FierceIy.
The Russians reported the cap
ture of Belaya Glina, 40 miles from
the Tikhoretsk rail juncture which
Is 90 miles south of Rostov
The Germans were said to be
tightening the defenses and resist
ing fiercely as the Russians squeezed
in on Rostov from this section of
the North Caucasus, down the Don
from the east, and down the rail
line across the Donets bend from
the north.
A midday communioue reported
the recapture of more towns in the
Voronezh section, along the south
ern front and in the Caucasus, but
these were not Immediately identi-
fed.
Earlier the Russians said they had
driven to within 10 miles of Voro-
Shilovgrad on western tributary of
the Donets River roughly midway
between Rostov and Kharkov.
Russian dispatches said that along
the entire front the battieline was
Strengthening AS advanced Red
Army forces filled in the gaps be-
tween earlier spearheads.
The text of Stains order as re-
ported by the Soviet monitor in
London:
"A decree of the supreme high
command of the Red Army to the
troops of the North Caucasian,
Southwestern. Southern. Don, Vor-
onezh, Kalinin, Volkhov and Len
ingrad fronts.
"As the result of a two-month
offensive the Red Army broke
through the defenses of the German
Fascist troops on broad front and
routed 102 enemy divisions, captured
more than 100000 prisoners, 10000
guns and large quantity of other
equipment, and advanced about 400
kilometers Gas miles,.
Our troops gained an important
victory. The offensive of our troops
continues.
Il congratulate the Red Army
men, the commanders and political
workers of the Southwestern, South
ern, Don North Caucasian. Voro-
nezh. Kalinin, VolkhoV and Lenin-
grad fronts on their victory over the
German Fascist invaders and their
allles-Rumanians, Italians and
Hungarians-near Stalingrad, on the
Don, in the Northern Caucasus, near
Voronezn, in the area of Velikie Luki
and south of the Lake of Ladoga.
Il declare my appreciation to the
command and the gallant troops
who routed the Hitlerite army at
| the approaches to Stalingrad, who
| broke the siege of Leningrad. and
liberated from the German invaders
the towns OF Kantemirovka, Byelo-
vodsk, Morzovky, Millerovo, Staro-
belsk, KotelnikovSki, Zimoviki,
Elista, Salsk, Mozdok, Nalchik, Min
eralnye Vody, Pyatigorsk, Stavropol
(VoroShilovsk), Armavir, Valuiki,
Rossosh, Ostrogozhsk, Velikie Luki,
Schlusselburg. Voronezh, and many
other towns and thousands of popu-
lated places.
Forward to the routing of the
German invaders and their expul-
sion over the boundaries of our
motherlandl
Signed, the Supreme Commander,
u. STAIN.
r. r.