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Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 215, 11 September 1944, Page 5

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TO CHANNEL PORTS Canadians In Belgian Coast Town Of Zeebrugge N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 10. Canadian forces, from Ostend, entered Zeebrugge, reports Reuters correspondent with the Canadian First Army to-night. They met no opposition. "The Allied forces which are clearing the Channel coast area, have made considerable progress round Bergues, five miles south-east of Dunkirk," says a Supreme Headquarters communique. "Our units, further east, are approaching Bruges. Gains have been made north of Antwerp." The Canadians have hemmed the Germans at Dunkirk in roughly the same perimeter as was held by the British Expeditionary Force in 1940, when the little ships were taking off our men from the .beaches. At one point the Canadians are only five miles from the town, which is being shelled. The country between , Calais and Dunkirk has been fairly effectively flooded, making operations difficult. Ostend Fell Without a Fight British, Canadians and Poles, closing in on the Channel pocket, made further progress to-day, patrols reaching St. Nicholas, about 20 miles west of Antwerp. Our rocket-firing aircraft had a busy day shooting up barges, packed with Germans, trying to cross the Scheldt. Ostend, with its valuable port facilities, fell to the Canadians without a fight, said another correspondent. The enemy apparently pulled back, preferring to extricate his troops rather than to hold the port. It will prove of great assistance to the Allies in view of the fact that the Germans are holding Calais, Le Havre and Boulogne strongly. Our air forces completely annihilated an enemy column of between 200 and 300 horse-driven vehicles near Thietle. British, Canadian and Poles, pushing up through the pocket, are gradually narrowing it as the Germans make desperate attempts to escape from the trap. One group of Germans still held out on the northern outskirts of Ghent, despite the fact that our forces are several miles north of that town. A fairly strong force "of Germans attempted to break out from the Channel coast and disrupt the Allied Headquarters. The attack began on Friday evening and continued until early this morning. An enemy formation thrust into the Allied positions between Lille and Ghent on the main roads between the two towns. They probably converged on our lines from the regions of Dunkirk, Nieuport and Ostend.