Current Events July 31, 1942: BATTLE FOR CAUCSUS RAGES ON:

            The Bakersfield Californian

                                BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA, FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1942

Do-or-Die Red Army Halts Nazis

Japs Mass 400,000 Troops to Strike at Siberia

Red Rally Wipes Out

Huns' Flying Wedge

But Soviet Faces Disaster in Bloody

Battle for Caucasus as Foes Advance

By ROGER D. GREENE

Associated Press War Editor RALLYING Soviet armies, fighting under the slogan, "die, but don't retreat," threw back the Germans in some sectors

of the Don river bend 80 miles northwest of Stalingrad

today, but in the Caucasus the situation grew ever more

critical. A bulletin from

Adolf Hitler's field headquarters

declared that German,

Rumanian and Slovak troops

driving toward the Caucasus oil

fields had already thrust spearheads

113 miles below the Don, and the

Russians acknowledged German advances

in this theater.

The Nazi command said that

fighting was in, progress for the

town of Salsk, a junction on the last

major rail line from tho Caucasus to

Stalingrad 100 miles southeast ot

Rostov, and that axis troops had

swept across the Don on a 150-mile

front.

German speed troops and advanced

infantry divisions were pictured by

tho Nazi command as closely pursuing

the Russians and preventing

further retreat at several points by

outstripping: the "disorganized fugitives."

Strong1 Soviet attacks were acknowledged

in tho north, around

Rzhev, 130 miles northwest of Moscow,

on tho Volkhov front and outside

Leningrad.

In the battle of (he Don river

bend, above Stalingrad, tho Red

armies reported they had turned a

novel "flying wedge" attack of

massed Germany infantry, walled by

tanks, into a death trap for the

Nazis.

British Predict

3 Nip Smashes

at Russia

Yanks Down 9 of.

49 Jap Raiders

at Darwin. By Associated Press

BRITISH military quarters

declared today that Japan had

massed nearly 400,000

troops in Manchukuo opposite

the 1000-mile Soviet frontier

and said "there is little

doubt they are planning to attack.

These quarters predicted that the

Japanese would make at least three

drives in an attempt to Isolate the

Siberian port of Vladivostok, which

lies only 700 miles across the Sea

of Japan from Tokyo.

"August and September are the

best months for campaigning in that

area," the source said, "and the Japanese

inactivity in all other.- spheres

except the north Pacific indicates

Siberia la their objective for the last

half of 1942."

Aside from aerial operations and

a minor Japanese land thrust toward

the allied outpost of Port Moresby,

in New Guinea, the whole far Pacific

theater has been ominously quiescent

for weeks.

In Australia, General MacArthnr's

headquarters reported the

biggest outburst of aerial warfare

since the Coral Sea battle, with

American airmen destroying 9 out

.of 49 Japanese raiders over Port

Darwin, setting another enemy

transport aflame off New Guinea

and shooting up the transport's destroyer

escort.

Current Events July 30, 1942; STALIN ORDERS RED SOLDIERS AND OFFICERS TO FIGHT TO THE DEATH:

                         Oakland Tribune

            OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1942

Stop Retreat; Stalin Orders;

Saarbrucken Set Afire by RAF.

Germans Reported to Have

Landed on Taman Peninsula

In New Push Into Caucasus

MOSCOW. July 30.—(UP)—Premier Joseph Stalin ordered

the Red Army to halt its retreat today.

The, Army newspaper Red Star reported that Stalin had

ordered every soldier and officer to "stand and fight to the

death."

"Not one step back," Red Star quoted Stalin. "The execution

this task means the preservation of our country, the

destruction of the hated enemy

and a guarantee of victory."

LONDON, July 30.—(/P)—Reuters

said it had recorded a Vichy broadcast

in which the Vichy news agency

reported that German forces from

the Kerch Peninsula landed at

dawn today on the Taman Peninsula

of the Caucasus.

(The Taman Peninsula is separated

by the narrow Kerch Strait

from the Kerch Peninsula, the easternmost

extension of the Crimea. A

German l a n d i n g there would

gravely menace the flank and rear

of the Russian forces trying to

stem the Nazi drive southward from

Rostov.)

By EDDY GILMORE

MOSCOW, July 3Q.—(AP)—

Reinforced by divisions which the

Russians said were drawn from Finland

and France, Field Marshal

Fedor Von Bock's southern front

onslaught rolled deeper into the

Caucasus south of Rostov today and

pressed the Red Army back toward

the tip of the Don bend within 80

miles of Stalingrad.

Premier Joseph Stalin, for whom

the big town on the Volga was renamed

after the Russian revolution,

appealed directly to his Army to

lake inspiration from Russia's greatest

military heroes commanded

and defeated the Tartars, beat back

the Swedes, the Turks and the Teutonic

knights, and drove Napoleon

from Moscow.

'WE CANNOT RETREAT

The Communist Party newspaper

Pravda declared "it is necessary to

understand that we cannot retreat."

The Russians reported slashing

back fiercely at new German crossings

of the lower Don. and dispatches

which told of a stiffening

defense indicated that Marshal

Semeon Timoshenko was moving

reserves into the line.

Current Events July 29, 1942; RUSSIAN DEFENSE STIFFENING AS GERMAN ARMIY IS REINFORCED;

          THE CAPITAL TIMES

                           MADISON, WIS., WEDNESDAY, JULY 29,1942

Russians' Caucasus Defense Stiffens

Axis Drives

Are Aimed At

Rail Routes

German Armies Re-inforced,

Push Three

Spearheads

122 NAZI PLANES

SHOT DOWN, CLAIM

Rome Radio Say Big

Guns Shell Stalingrad

BY EDDY GILMORE

_MOSCOW— (AP) —The Russian

defense of the Caucasus

showed signs of stiffening

today as the steadily reinforced

German drive across

the lower Don shaped Into

spearheads toward Kushchevka,

Salsk and the Tikhoretsk-

Stalingrad railroad linking

the oil fields to central Russia.

A communique said the Red

army was "displaying stubborn resistance"

after being forced back

in the Bataisk area, 15 miles south

of Rostov along the main railway

to the oil port of Baku. Kuschevka

is a station on this line 45 miles

south of Rostov.

The Germans also were meeting

stiff resistance against • secondary

thrust developing down a spur line

angling southeast from Bataisk to

the junction with the Tikhoretsk-

Stalingrad railway at Salsk. 100

miles southeast of Rostov.

Farther up the Don, midway between

Rostov and Stalingrad, the

Germans battled fiercely under

shellfire and bombing in an attempt

to enlarge at least three

bridgeheads on the south bank of

th« river in the Taimlyansk area,

when the Don flows within J5

miles of the last rail line between

Riusu tnd tb« Caucasus.

paper, said Russian airmen, some

of them flying United States-made

Airacobra fighters, had shot down

122 German planes in aerial combat

over the north Caucasus and

Don bend battlefields.

Current Events July 29, 1942; ROSTOV REPORTED IN RUINS; CIVILLIANS SUFFER:

                          Joplin Globe

         JOPLIN, MISSOURI, WEDNESDAY MORNING, JULY 29, 19 42.

NAZIS PUSH ON FROM ROSTOV

ROSTOV IN RUINS;

HUNGRY CIVILIANS

SEARCH FOR FOOD

Smell of Death Heavy in City

That Was a Flourishing

Port Before Great

Battle.

TURNED INTO FORTRESS

BY RUSSIAN DEFENDERS

Street B a r r i c a d e s Were

Erected With Machine

Guns in Buildings

and Cellars.

B e r l i n ( F r o m German Broadcasts ) ,

J u l y 28.—(/P)—Rostov on the

Don is a heap of smoking ruins

w h e r e the smell of death is heavy,

w h e r e h u n g r y R u s s i a n civilians are

s c a v e n g i n g  for food,  a n d  w h e r e tat-

ered   s i g n s  still read " death to the

G e r m a n  o c c u p a t i o n  troops," Robert

Broese, a Nazi reporter, said ton-

ight in a d i s p a t c h dated at that

once f l o u r i s h i n g Caucasian port.

B r o e s e's r e p o r t as b r o a d c a s t by

t h e Berlin radio said:

" T h e city had been t u r n e d into

one g i g a n t i c s y s t em of small fortr-

esses. B a r r i c a d e s were e r e c t e d at

n e a r l y   all  s t r e e t  crossings. Some

of these were built with bricks.

T h e n  t h e r e  were small pillboxes

for m a c h i n e guns, and even regular

walls w e r e built as high as a man,

l e a v i n g only a small opening for

s t r e e t traffic.

Writer Tells of 72 Days

Spent in Japanese Prison

Morris J. Harris, Associated Press Correspondent, Forced to

Sleep on Bare Floor During Confinement—Food Consisted

of Cold Rice and Bread—All Prisoners, Including

Americans and Britons, Fared Alike.

(NOTE: Morris J. Harris, for 15 years chief of the bureau maintained by the Associated

Press In Shanghai until the outbreak of the Pacific war last December. Is a

native of Columbia, Mo., graduate of the University of Missouri and a former Kansas

City newspaperman. He worked on the Japan Advertiser and on the Manila Bulletin

before Joining the Associated Press. Following Is a delayed dispatch received from

him as the exchange liner Grlpsholm sailed for the United States late 'tuesday.)

By M O R R IS J . H A R R I S .

L o u r e n c o Marques, Portuguese

E a s t Africa, July 24.—(Delayed)—

(AP)—1 spent 72 d a y s in a J a p a n e se

m i l i t a r y prison.

The days of u n c e r t a i n t y followed

December 8, t h e d a y of the a t t a ck

on P e a r l H a r b o r a c c o r d i n g t o E a st

A s i a time, were climaxed before

dawn on March 5 w h e n a s q u a d of

J a p a n e s e gendarmes, the m i l i t a ry

s e c r e t police, banged on my door

w i t h pistol butts and demanded

t h a t I h u r r y out.

F o r the next two and a half

m o n t h s a r m e d g u a r d s w a t c h e d me

d a y and n i g h t. The cell was never

d a r k. Arc lights blazed t h r o u g h out

t h e n g h t s . There was no bed.

I slept on t h e b a r e cold floor.

B l a n k e t Vermin-Ridden.

My c a p t o r s supplied only a thin

v e r m i n - r i d d e n blanket which I

d r e a d e d to t o u c h despite my desp-

erate need for one.

E a c h m e a l t i m e I got one bowl of

cold rice or a chunk of bread.

T h e y were t h r u s t t h r o u g h my cell

door by a Chinese coolie t r u s t y.

D r i n k was a n i n f r e q u e n t gulp of a

d i s h - w a t e r y tea from a filthy batt-

ered bowl which a dozen coolies

u s e d w i t h o u t washing.

Bedbugs t h r i v e d w i t h i n t h e cell

a n d they waged a constant war-

fare. My toilet was a wooden

b u c k e t . I was p e r m i t t e d to wash

my face only once a day in a conc-

rete trough. The water was always

cold and only a few m i n u t es

w e r e allowed as the g u a r d s kept

u p  a  p e r s i s t e n t   g o a d i n g   to  h u r r y.

Current Events July 28, 1942; GRAVE MOMENTS FOR RUSSIA IN THE DON RIVER VALLEY

                     The Portsmouth Times

                 Portsmouth, Ohio, Tuesday July 28. 1942

REDS STRIVE DESPERATELY

TO STEM STALINGRAD PUSH

Russia Faces Its Most Serious

Threat As Nazis Hit Deeper

Over Don; Capture Admitted

Of Rostov, Novocherkassk

By ROGER D. GREENE

Associated Press War Editor

Adolph Hitler's field headquarters asserted today that Ger-

man troops, advancing within 50 miles at Stalingrad, had

"readied or crossed the lower Don at all points'' south of Ka-

lach. And Soviet dispatches frankly conceded that it was the

gravest moment of the entire war.

NAZIS SET FIRES

IN INDUSTRY CITY

OF BIRMINGHAM

Fire Bombs Drop In Greater

London Area; 9 Raiders

Are Shot Down

By The Associated Press

LONDON, July .28—Birmingham,

big British industrial center

in the midlands, was bombed

last night in an attack which

cost the Germans eight out of 50

to 70 raiders, and incendiaries

fell in the greater London dist-

trict which had it's first night

alarm since June 3.

Currrent Events July 27. 1942: BRITISH RAID TOBRUK, DESERT BATTLE IN LULL:

THE CAPITAL TIMES

MADISON, WIS., MONDAY, JULY 27, 1942

Germans Hurl Weight

Of Reinforcements In

Battle for Caucasus

Fierce Tank, Plane

Blows Landed

on Reds

BY EDDY GILMORE

MOSCOW— (/P) —The Germans

hurled into battle

today the great weight of

reinforcements t h e y h a v e

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 Tsimlyansk.

The Russian air force, using

some United States bombers and

fighters, pounded the moving columns

of German men and guns by

daylight and under the nearly full

moon by night.

The whole steppe land was eerie

with flames. Bombs burst over

great 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.

The Stalingrad-Tikhoretsk railway,

last rail link with the Caucasus,

undoubtedly has undergone

heavy bombings. There were, however,

no reports, suggesting, that

German land farces had reached

this line, which runs south of the

Don barely 50 miles from Tslmlyansk.

British Raid

Tobruk; Set

Many Fires

Ship in Harbor Hit, Is

Claim; Desert Fight

Still in Lull

CAIRO—(AP)—A heavy force of

bombers blasted the Axis supply

port of Tobruk again Sunday night,

touching off fires and explosions

and scoring a direct hit on an enemy

ship, British headquarters announced

today.

The attack was the second in

two nights, following a heavy assault

Saturday in which United

States heavy bombers took a prom

inent part.

• American airmen reported a big

area of Tobruk lit up by blazing

gasoline after the Saturday night

raid. They called this their most

successful operation of the African

campaign although thick layers of

cloud often prevented them from

seeing the target.

Lieut. Ernest Duckworth of

Providence, R. I., bombardier and

navigator of one of -the American

planes, said he dropped a string

of nine heavy bombs which touched

off fires along a pipe-line carrying

fuel from tankers to fuel

dumps.

600 RAF Planes Bomb

Hamburg; 29 Are Lost

U Boat Shipyards Are

Target of Largest

Raid in Month

LONDON—(AP)—A very heavy

force oft British bombers attacked

the German port of Hamburg Sunday

night, it was announced today.

•Twenty-nine planes were reported

lost in the raid.

In addition to high explosives,

the RAF dropped more than

175,000 incendiary bombs, and Air

Chief Marshal Sir Arthur T. Harris,

chief of the bomber command,

called the raid "one of the outstangingly

successful attacks of the

whole war." the air ministry news

service reported.

Within 35 minutes "much of the

old town was on Alert," the service

said. There were fires burning

around Aussen Laster lake and

many in the dock area.

(On the basis of losses of slightly

under 5 per cent, which the

British have reported as the cost

of similar recent heavy raids, this

would suggest a striking force of

at least 600 planes.

Current Events July 26, 1942; RUSSIANS DESPARATELY HOLDING ON IN THE DON VALLEY:

         Cumberland Sunday Times

     CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND, SUNDAY, JULY 26, 1942

Russia Says Battle For Rostov

Roaring In Outskirts; Germany

Reserves Thrown Into Struggle

REDS BATTLING

DESPERATELY

TO RETAIN CITY

Enemy, Taking Advantage

of Overwhelming Numerical

Superiority, Continuously

Storm Forts

BREAKING THROUGH

SOME RED POSITIONS

Moscow Says Germans Are

Still Being Pushed Back

in Voronezh Area; Battles

Bloodiest Ever

By EDDY GILMORE

Moscow, Sunday. July 2 (AP) —

German troops augmented by a.

steady flow of reserves to take the

place of fallen thousands have

smashed their way into the outskirts

of Rostov, the Russians acknowledged

early today.

Heavy fighting rolled all along the

lower Don river to Tsimlyarwk. 320

miles to the east, where the NAOS

were reported also suffering enormous

lasses in constant attempt* to

penetrate Soviet, defense* on the

south bank of the river.

The Germans have succeeded in

reaching the outskirts ol the town

(Rostov)," the midnight communique

said. The Germans are being forced

to throw reserves In heavy

fighting which continues In the Ros-

tov area.

Five Japanese Vessels,

Including A Destroyer,

Sunk by American Subs

SIXTH DAMAGED

AND POSSIBLY

SENT TO BOTTOM

Besides Modern Destroyer,

One Medium-Sized .Tanker,

and Three Cargo

Ships Are Victims

RAISES JAP TOLL OF

SUB ATTACKS TO 55

Fifteen Others Probably

Sunk, and Fourteen

Others Damaged Since

Pearl Harbor

Washington, July 25 (AP) The

Navy announced today that That Uhited

States submarines operating in,the

western Pacific had reported sink-

Ing five Japanese snips, including

one modern destroyer, and damaging

and possibly sinking a sixth

Washington, July 25--- (AP) — The

Navy announced today that the United

States submarines operating in,the

western Pacific ~had reported sink-

Ing five Japanese snips,"including

one modern destroyer, and damaging

and possibly sinking a. another

vessel

The submarine activities were reported

in navy department communique

No. 100, which said:

far east:

United State Submarines have report-

the following results of operations

in Far Eastern waters:

Current Events July 25, 1942: RUSSIAN DEFENSE OF CAUCASUS DESPARATE:

     THE CAPITAL TIMES

            MADISON, WIS., SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1942

U. S. Bombers Aid Desperate Reds

Russia Says

Rostov Is Still

Held by Them

Vast Air Battles On; Nazis

Approach

Stalingrad

RIVER DON FLOWS

RED WITH BLOOD

Germans Rush Muni-

tions to Front Line

In Big Planes

BY EDDY GILMORE

MOSCOW — (/P) — united

States bombers took part

In the desperate Russian defense

of the Caucasus today

as the Germans drove dangerous

wedges into the forests

guarding Rostov and struck

ever nearer vital Stalingrad in

an offensive that reached the

middle Don.

E. T.' s note: Reporting of actions in the Pacific War zone his been limited.

See “Between The Lines “ editorial by Tex Reynolds. Posted to this blog July 24.

Jap Destroyer, Four

Other Ships Sunk By

U. S. Subs, Navy Says

Sixth Vessel Struck, Believed Sunk

WASHINGTON— (/P)—The

navy announced today

that United States submarines

operating in the western Pacific

had reported sinking five

Japanese ships, including one ,

modern destroyer, and dam- |

aging and possibly sinking a

sixth vessel.

The submarine activities were

reported in navy department communique

No. 100, which said:

"FAR EAST—U. S. Submarines

have reported the following

results of operations in

Far Eastern waters:

"One modern Japanese destroyer

sunk.

"One medium sized tanker

sunk.

"Three cargo ships sunk,

"One medium sized cargo

ship damaged and believed

sunk.

"These actions have not been

announced in any previous

navy department communique.