Corridor Established Across Holland

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24368, 21 September 1944, Page 5

Corridor Established Across Holland

MORE AIR-BORNE LANDINGS (N.Z Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, September 20. The British 2nd Army, it was stated last night, had reached the outskirts of Nijmegen, close to the Dutch-German border, after a sensational advance across Holland of nearly 50 miles in 48 hours. This sweeping advance was made possible by the air-borne forces, which had seized and held many bridges in the path of the 2nd Army. The enemy succeeded in blowing up only one bridge between the Escaut Canal (in northern Belgium) and Nijmegen. The Allies have now established a corridor running almost right through Holland to Nijmegen. They have already smashed at least one German attempt to break into this corridor. The Germans say that more air-borne forces Jiave been landed in the Utrecht and Gelderland provinces (between the Allied corridor and the Zuyder Zee), through which the German forces in southern and western Holland must escape if they are to avoid encirclement. It is officially reported that the operations in Holland are “going without a hitch, in line with the master plan.” • To-day’s Supreme Headquarters communique says that the advance in Holland continues rapidly, and that the ground troops on Tuesday made contact with more air-borne formations. Strong counter-attacks were beaten off near Best and north of Gheel. Resistance is still stiff south of the Schelde estuary, west of Antwerp, but progress was made in this sector in the area of the Axel-Hulst Canal. On the Siegfried Line front the American Ist Army has completely encircled Aachen and has captured the border town of Sittard, about 20 miles north-west of Aachen. The communique reports fighting in the factory area of Stolberg, seven miles east of Aachen. Further east American guns are shelling Duren, which is 22 miles from Cologne. Forty miles to the south-east, near the Luxemburg border, the German town of Pruem is also being shelled.

It is announced Hy Supreme Headquarters that additional strong air-borne forces landed in Holland on Tuesday, fer the third day in succession, at unspecif-od points. ( Fighters of the United States Bth t'Air Force covering Tuesday's air-borne landings in Holland shot down 26 enemy aeroplanes. The Official German News Agency «ayg: “Nevv landings of Allied parachute troops have been made in the Utrecht and Gelderland provinces of Holland. Fighting is going on north of the great rivers,” ‘‘British 2nd Army columns advanced thirty-seven miles through Holland on Tuesday to cross the Maas river at Grave, eight miles south-west of Nijmegen, where air-borne forces captured a bridge intact,” said a Supreme Headquarters statement yesterday. A heavy counter-attack against the British bridgehead over the Escaut Canal north of Gheel vyas repulsed.” Reuter’s correspondent with the British 2nd Army says: ‘‘The Dutch resistance movement, obeying the orders of Prince Bernhard, has swung into momentum. Every train, tram, and motor vehicle in Holland has come to a standstill and communications are paralysed.” “The German forces which are lacing a threat of encirclement in eastern Holland to-day (Tuesday) opened a counter-attack against our air-borne forces,” reported a British United Press correspondent yesterday. “The German drive began when units which were apparently isolated launched sporadic assaults. Additional German detachments joined in before noon, when it was evident that the Germans were making a concerted attempt to burst from what may become a trap. They were using heavy artillery in addition to eighty-eights and mortars. “The Germans’ main effort appeared to be directed over a rough semi-circle including a wooded area where one of ■ the air-borne units landed. “There are also indications that the Germans on the Dutch-Germari border are preparing for a thrust westward, hoping to cut into the corridor which the air-borne forces hacked out. “Heavy'fighting is in progress at present within gunshot range of the German frontier.” ‘‘Better than Anticipated” ‘‘The British 2nd Army’s great bound across Holland from the Belgian border almost to the Rhine covered more than 50 miles in less than 48 hours,” reported Reuter’s correspondent in a dispatch late yesterday. “LieutenantGeneral Dempsey’s spearhead at 11 a.m. to-day had reached the outskirts of Nijmegen, through which the Rhine flows under the Dutch name of the Waal. . “Everything in the great Allied sweep across Holland so far is going better than was anticipated. The 2nd Army is going all-out while the paratroopers who were dropped on Sunday are blasting the Germans from fortified positions. “Our armour last evening broke the block before Eindhoven. British infantry on the left are now moving on well across the border. There is also 'satisfactory Allied progress on our right, where the opposition is stiffer. These advances protected our main stab through Holland, “Dutch civilians in Eindhoven say that the Germans have been pulling out for some lays and that they no longer stand in any strength between the Schelde and the Eindhoven-Nijme-gen highway—which is the area west of our advance.” . The correspondent of the British United Press with the 2nd Army said: “The Germans still hold the towns of Best and Helmond. between which British armoured columns pushed on beyond Eindhoven. Heavy fighting at Best continued all day on Monday. Hard Fighting “It is not an easy battle. The Germans seem determined to use all possible means to stem the great British drive to the Rhine. They are burying Panther tanks in concrete pits and using every wood as a stronghold. It took the British 11 hours of solid fighting to sweep the Germans from positions in front of Eindhoven.” Reuter’s correspondent said that the British were also broadening their base on the Escaut Canal. They wrere steadily expanding their bridgeheads and beginning to move westward along the canal’s north bank towards the Schelde. While the Allied forces were reducing the German emergenev squads manning the defences in the northern sector of Holland, about 700 Flying Fortresses, under fighter cover, yesterday struck at the marshalling yards at Hamm and Soest. in the Ruhr, about 100 miles erst of Eindhoven. These two places are important reinforcing Points, so the blow was presumably aimed at German troops and supply transport moving up to assist in the deof the German positions in Hol-