CONTROLLED ON BOTH FLANKS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 304, 23 December 1944, Page 5

CONTROLLED ON BOTH FLANKS

Von Rundstedt's Drive

DRAMATIC REPORT OF ATTACK BY THIRD ARMY

N.Z.P.A.—Copyright.—Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, December 22. It was officially revealed to-night that the German drive through the Ardennes has been controlled on both flanks, reports Reuters correspondent with the United States Ijirst Army. The deepest German penetration is past Wiltz, continuing westward as far as Laroche, 14 miles north-west of Bastogne. The Germans, according to an official statement at Supreme Headquarters, had by night encircled Bastogne and Wiltz, and cut the main roads north, south and east from Bastogne. The German news agency to-night dramatically interrupted the broadcast of an operational message from the Western Front to flash the news that von Rundstedt's "winter offensive" had been slowed by a flank attack by General Patton's Third Army. The news agency said: "The main brunt of the fighting is now more than ever on the two flanks. A particularly grim struggle has been waged on the southern flank, where German spearheads, heading south-west, have had to defend themselves against increasingly furious counter-attacks by several American divisions. The Americans admittedly have succeeded in slowing down the German advance. They, however, have been unable to cut across tile path of the German thrust and for this reason the Germans have made more headway." The German news agency commentator Sertorius says that British reinforcements from Field-Marshal Montgomery's grouping have been thrown in against the northern flank of von Rundstedt's offensive. General Patton's Third Army forces, he adds, farther south have thus far established only bolt positions, but they may launch an attack soon.

Another German news agency commentator, Gunther Weber, declared that General Patton has lost the Saar battle, which has entered a new phase during the past 12 hours. Third Army forces, he said, are withdrawing to the western bank of the Saar, blowing up their pontoon bridges.

Von Rundstedt's main drive now appears to have been switched southward towards the Bastogne area, where considerable enemy progress is believed to have been made, says the British United Press correspondent at Twenty-first Army Group Headquarters. The northern arm of the double-barelled German drive has been brought almost to a standstill, but the Germans are apparently now getting their second wind. Authoritative reports, the correspondent adds, indicate that it is premature to say that von Rundstedt's plan has failed but it is clear that the Allies are gaining time and every day sees the Allied counter-measures more effective. The R.A.F., with the clearing of the skies, again flew to the aid of the Americans, carrying out over 100 sorties, in which the airmen blasted German gun positions and strafed enemy troops. The Luftwaffe did not appear. The Americans are slowly breaking the back of the German offensive by exacting appalling losses, says the Associated Press correspondent in a dispatch from the Malmedy sector. The correspondent adds that incomplete reports record the destruction of 200 German tanks. Nineteen were knocked out in an area less than a mile square. The American losses have not been slight but they are nothing compared with those of the Germans. Prisoners are few because S.S. troops, are not surrendering and the Americans also are fighting to the last. Some of the most savage fighting is taking place on snow-covered mountain slopes. The original force of 500 German paratroops has been largely wiped out. The Americans found survivors, suffering from frozen feet and exhaustion, trying to reach their own lines.