BRITISH TANKS RACE FORWARD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 94, 21 April 1945, Page 5

BRITISH TANKS RACE FORWARD

Reported Beyond Elbe

SEVENTH DIVISION ONE MILE FROM HARBURG

N.Z.P.A.—Copyright—Rec. 12.30 p.rn,

LONDON, April 20.

The, British Seventh Armoured Division, striking swiftly along the Bremen-Hamburg autobahn, reached positions less than a mile south-west of Harburg, the largest suburb of Hamburg, cables Reuters correspondent from General Dempsey's Headquarters. According to New York radio, British forces have crossed the Elbe and are advancing towards Lubeck, on the Baltic Sea and north-east of Hamburg. Field-Marshal Montgomery's tanks dominate a 15-mile stretch of the Elbe south-east of Hamburg. Several hundred tanks are increasing the threat to Hamburg, and a link-up of the Eleventh and Seventh Armoured Divisions in the Wissen area is expected at any moment. The whole of Luneburg Heath is now being cleaned up by elements of three armoured divisions as well as infantry units, which are meeting tough pockets of resistance at a number of places. The Eleventh Armoured Division captured Wissen, 10 miles south-east of Hamburg suburbs, just west of the Elbe River. The Seventh Armoured Division, farther to the north, is on the outskirts of Buxthede, six miles west of Harburg. The Guards Armoured Division has raced 12 miles westward along the Hamburg-Bremen autobahn to positions two miles east of Zeven. German police forces in Bremen were thrown into the battle in an endeavour to halt the British drive to the outskirts of the city. British infantry units, nibbling their way forward, crossed the Bremen - Oldenburg railway and captured Huechting, two miles west of the outskirts of Bremen, British armoured units, outflanking the city from the east, drove north from the Verden bridgehead, xnd are now 11 miles east of the city.

A surprise thrust by tanks and infantry of the Guards Armoured Division to-night threatens the great German naval port of Bremerhaven, on the Elbe Estuary, says the British United Press correspondent with the Second Army. Tank spearheads drove through remnants of the German Marine Division and reached a point. 25miles north-east of Bremen. ' Opposition was spasmodic. There were some pockets of resistance, but other Germans quickfy showed white flags. One burgomaster came out with a white flag, jumped aboard the leading tank, and rode in triumph into his village. While the Guards thrust north of Bremen the 51st Infantry Division stormed into Delmenhurst and the Third Division reached a point two miles south of Bremen. | ii£- Seventh Armoured Division troops, closing in on the fringes of Harburg, fought a duel with a U-boat, which they shelled from the bank of the Elbe with the help of Allied planes, which also attacked German warships and other craft, setting fire to a cruiser. Correspondents at Field-Marshal Montgomery's Headquarters say the chances of German troops escaping from Bremen in order toreinforce Hamburg have almost disappeared. General Dempsey's tanks, both east and south of Bremen, are within rifle shot of the city, but The Times correspondent gives the warning that there is every sign ftiat the final conquest of the northern ports is going to be a slow, bloody business. Americans of the First Army smashed the last resistance in the city of Leipzig to-day. General Patton's Third Army patrols have made a new crossing of the Czechoslovak frontier, 10 miles south-east of Hof, says the British United Press correspondent with the Third Army. Other units farther south have advanced six miles on a 20-mile .front. General Patton's troops, steadily sweeping on across Germany, yesterday advanced upward of 16 miles on a 35-mile front in the Hofrßayreuth sector, reports Reuters correspondent. The Third Army yesterday took more than 25,000 prisoners, many of whom were taken (torn hospital. American tanks lunged forward, reached Grafenwohr, 20 miles south-east of Bayreuth, and captured a nearby airfield. Infantry entered Selb, 13 miles south-east of Hof and 2% miles from the Czech border. New York radio said French troops have entered Bordeaux.