COMMANDOS STORM ACROSS THE ELBE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 100, 30 April 1945, Page 5

COMMANDOS STORM ACROSS THE ELBE

STIFF OPPOSITION

Cliff Scaled And Town

Taken

N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless

Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, April 29. British commandos and Scottish infantrymen who crossed the Elbe succeeded in getting tanks across the river. The tanks are now fanning out, while Lauenburg is being rapidly mopped up, say correspondents at Field-Marshal Montgomery's headquarters. More than 1000 Germans have already been taken prisoner. British casualties are very light. The Luftwaffe came up to-day in greater numbers than recently, attempting ground attacks on the lrit£hArmy's newest bridgehead across the Elbe. R.A.F. Tempests and Spitfires were on guard and by mid-afternoon ten enemy aircraft had been destroyed, one Probably destroyed and two damaged, without loss to ourselves. The R.A.F. supported the new army thrust, though the weather was bv no means ideal. More than a hundred rockets crashed into a village on the far side of the Elbe, near Lauenburg, causing huge fires in buildings where enemy troops were still holding out. A fuller account of the British crossing of the Elbe is now given by a correspondent "with the Commandos beyond the Elbe," who says: "At 2 a.m. to-day, in bright moonlight, men of the First Commanao Brigade and troops of the Fifteenth Scottish Division led a British assault across Germany's second biggest river. Following a heavy barrage from our guns lining the southern riverbank, they stormed across in assault boats and Buffaloes, and within a few hours were firmly established-on the northern bank. They did not meet much opposition from ground troops, but found quite a strong formation of artillery concentrated against them. Several of these positions were quickly over-run, and our troops soon pushed out the bridgehead to a depth of four miles. Grenades liObbed Down

"The Commandos met very stiff opposition on the river bank, where they had to scale a forty-foot cliff after disembarking. On top of the cliff were Germans, who lobbed down grenades on oy~ men as they leaped from their assault craft. Clambering up the face of the cliff, the Commandos charged into the enemy positions, and once they had got into them the enemy showed little fight. "The landing of the Commandos was just west of the town of Lauenburg. The object was to surround the town and capture the high ground to the north. Before the first light they had succeeded. They stole down a narrow lane, passing two batteries of enemy artillery, without the enemy knowing they were there, and once they had the town surrounded the enemy surrendered by the score. Artillery put I down a creeping barrage, with Commandos following up only a hundred yards behind. "The river where the crossing was made is 1300 feet wide, with a strong current running, and in the bright moonlight the enemy, being able to observe our assault crossing, opened fire on the leading craft.

"Yesterday the enemy garrison had refused to surrender, although they said that if it had been in thenpower to do so they would have taken advantage of the opportunity. Yesterday afternoon a Commando officer went down to the river bank, with a loud-speaker and called across and advised the enemy to surrender. He told them that he was prepared to come over and discuss the matter. The Germans thereupon sent over a speedboat. The Commando officer went across and interviewed the major commanding the garrison, who said it was impossible to contact anyone who could give the required permission. This morning the major was being marched through the streets of the town. The civilians were already at work clearing the rubble and debris caused by our shelling. There was a short halt when a German plane appeared, but it met such a hot reception that it quickly made off. "Having cleared the town, the Commandos, who had linked up with men of the Fifteenth (on their left farther west), were pushing on. The chief interest among our troops was the thought of a quick link-up with the Russians, who are not very far away." The United States Ninth Army has launched an attack, capturing Zerbat, on the Elbe bridgehead, and striking eastward towards the- Russians, who are in the vicinity of Wittenburg. A record bag of 24,887 prisoners has been captured by the Seventh Army, bringing the total since they crossed the Rhine to 208,000.