The General Dies at Orel

For 30 days last fall, wiry, greying Colonel Gurtiev held the "Barricades" factory in Stalingrad. His division repulsed 117 tank and infantry attacks. It withstood 80 hours of steady pounding by German artillery. FT a total of 320 hours the Luftwaffe bombed it. Watching the flames shrouding 'the tortured factory, anxious men elsewhere in Stalingrad said: "Stepan Gurtiev, that's the man for you." Of his 50 years, Gurtiev had spent 28 in the army. His men loved him, but feared him too, for "Tovarish Commander" tolerated no flaws in training, discipline or valor.

En route to Stalingrad, a soldier dropped his rifle from the moving train. Afraid of what was coming to him, he jumped off the train, picked up the rifle, chased the train three miles to a station. When he heard of this, Gurtiev beamed.

Once, during the battle, Gurtiev was buried in a cave. Dug out, he moved his headquarters to a huge concrete main beneath the factory ruins. From there he directed the defense--and constant counterattacks. His Siberian division was bled and mauled, but Gurtiev refused to move. Last week Moscow announced that Major General Gurtiev was killed leading his troops in the attack on Orel.

> Also killed in action, near Belgorod, was General Joseph Apanasenko, until last spring chief of the Soviet Army in the Far East.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.