ALLIED GAINS ON WEST FRONT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 284, 30 November 1944, Page 5

ALLIED GAINS ON WEST FRONT

Amei'sean Successes

first army takes hurtgen, langerwehe (N.Z.P.A.—Copyright.—Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 29. Both the American First Army and Ninth Army gained mnortant strategic successes to-day. First Army forces captured Langerwehe, the last German-held road centre before Duren. The American First Army to-day also captured Hurtgen and pushed on one mile beyond. Ninth Army troops captured Barmen after heavy fighting. Advances of upwards of one mile and a quarter were made on the First Army front to-day with the Americans entering Merode, which is less than three miles west of Duren, says Reuters correspondent with the Americans. Langerwehe and Jungersdorf have been completely cleared. The recent fighting on the First Army front is described as the hardest of the war. The battle went on ml day at Grosshau, where the Germans had been ordered to "fight until you are killed or captured."

All resistance has ceased in Koslar, which guards the western approaches to Julich against which the Ninth Army is advancing.

The Germans stubbornly defended Koslar for days, says Reuters correspondent with the Ninth Army. The enemy everywhere along the Roer River, between Julich and Linnich, is particularly sensitive to any small Allied advance closer to the river. The Germans blew up the bridge over the Roer River at Julich, reports the Associated Press correspondent at Immendorf. Ninth Army forces are firmly established along the river north and south of the town. Planes and artillery on the Ninth Army front have destroyed 15 German tanks in the past 24 hours. General Simpson's forces in the southern sector of the Ninth Army front have reached the Roer River on a front of five miles and a half and are solidly established on high ground, states Reuters correspondent.