Reinforcements Dropped In Holland

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24371, 25 September 1944, Page 5

Reinforcements Dropped In Holland

2nd ARMY FACES STIFF OPPOSITION (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 12.5 a.m.) LONDON, September 24. The British 2nd Army in Holland has made contact with one isolated air-borne force in the Arnhem area, but the great bulk of the air-borne troops who made the original landings are still north of the Neder Rijn and have not been reached by the 2nd Army. This group, which has been fighting against terrific odds for seven days, is still a strong fighting force. Correspondents say the isolated air-borne troops in the neighbourhood of Arnhem, where the fighting is particularly fierce, are not only holding on grimly, but are hitting back. Nevertheless, it is stated, their position must be regarded as serious. Enemy shelling and mortar fire in the Arnhem area are becoming heavier and heavier, but casualties have been surprisingly few. In spite of strong opposition reinforcements of the Allied Airborne Army and supplies were landed yesterday in support of the 2nd Army. British and American fighters, in strength, took part in the operation. Bitter fighting continues along the British corridor, but there is an improvement in the situation at Nijmegen. In the area of Antwerp our forces have secured another crossing of the Escaut Canal. On other sectors of the Western Front there has been little change.

The British United Press correspondent with the 2nd Army says a vital bridge across the Neder Rijn at Arnhem is reported to be still Intact. Exceptionally fierce fighting is continuing between enemy infantry and tanks and the main force of air-borne troops, towards whom Lieutenant-General Dempsey is thrusting. The air-borne troops are now desperately tired, but are holding ground and even striking out to gain more. “Enemy shelling is growing heavier on the right flank, and the main corridor to Holland has been expanded,” says Reuter’s correspondent with the 2nd Army. “The British advanced a total of six miles in the last 36 hours and captured Weert. and patrols pusned out towards Maeseyck, where there is fierce fighting. The bridgehead over the Bois-le-Duc Canal has been broadened. A senior British staff officer stated yesterday that ihe situation is in hand again after the attack had achieved some success, but the British have now cleared the threat to the highway. Germans are lurking in the woods attacking our soft-skinned vehicles. “The battle of the corridor in Holland is one of - the strangest and most daring in history,” says a correspondent with American air-borne troops. “Never before' has an army thrust so far into enemy territory along so narrow a ribbon.’ Air-borne forces have pushed the Germans aside far enough to permit Lieutenant-General Dempsey’s column to roll through free, of small arms lire. Where they can bring up big guns, however, the Germans are capable of shelling the road almost at any point. Apparently well-orgariised German panzers from the east are making thrust after thrust at the road, while from the west the corridor is under a constant threat by disorganised but desperate Germans attempting to flee back to Germany. “We have not been free of some sort of attack since Monday, when the Germans first appreciated the possible trap threat to all western Holland. They have attacked with tanks twice from the east, and with strong infantry. supported by heavy artillery, and twice from the west along the stretch of this corridor which this unit

holds. These threats to the corridor, although they succeeded temporarily *in cutting Lieutenant-General Dempsey’s supply column, are now systematically being reduced by advanced flanking columns of British armour relieving fhe paratroops.” , “British troops who crossed the Nijmegen bridge are still awed by the sight of the bridge approaches,” says the correspondent of the “Daily Mail’ ■vviih the British armoured forces south of Arnhem. “British soldiers, American paratroops, and German S.S. men are lying dead in great piles on the approaches and the bridge itself. Many Americans were locked in death duels with Germans. There are rifles and ammunition scattered everywhere mixed up with American rations and parachute packs. “No British soldier participating in ‘he action for the bridge will forget the courage and grim tenacity displayed by me Americans, who fought to the death for the bridge so that their British comrades could safely pass over. For every dead American there are six dead Germans.” A correspondent with the air-borne troops near Nijmegen states: “Lieuten-ant-General Dempsey’s troops are rollover the bridge at Nijmegen, which Ljutch, resistance forces preserved from yerman demolition while American mr-borne troops and British armour squeezed the dug-in Nazis out of the city m a 24-hour battle. The air-borne ar £ slowly mopping up the Germans still strung along both sides of me corridor which the sky troops are tv, * n September 17. Indications .fp mat the Germans are massing on S forces in the triangle between 'orndor and the German frontier. * *A e , Germans are charged with a wn , G) holding the Nijmeerl! I?* l un ction, which is the northern gateway to the Ruhr; and (2) at*

sSedV m « r ° a hed n a%an?e”r brigade of tSS"and 4s - ■%gjs stroyed at least eight tanks. ‘■Strong infantry forces supported by heavy artillery, are still maintaining the pressure in another area. They Attempted to push through to the road, but our paratroops are absorbing the blow and throwing the Germans back with heavy losses. . "American air-borne troops and British armour gained Nijmegen with assault boats under a heavy machinefun fire They closed the city from the north, while armour pushed its way past the Waal river and the permanent concrete pillboxes on the south bank Dutch resistance forces are given credit for the failure of the German bridge demolition scheme, but full details are not available. "It is reported that the Germans attempted to flee from the pillboxes but they were stopped at the north end of the bridge by .an S.S. captain waving a revolver. Sniping and isolated resistance are still continuing on the south bank. , .. “The air-borne force that opened the corridor from Eindhoven to the north had accounted for 2300 prisoners by noon on Thursday, and truckloads are still rolling in. This force wiped out killed or captured two battalions or the Hermann Goering Parachute Training Regiment. , , , . , “Hazy cloudy weather has enabled the German air force in the west to operate rather more freely. Most of the enemy aeroplanes are from airfields in Germany, but some may still be using Neuwarden in Holland. Allied fighters escorting the transport aeroplanes had difficulty in bringing the enemy fighters to combat in the haze, but 20 German fighters were shot down. A strong formation of Focke Wulfs was encountered south-west of Cologne, and Thunderbolts destroyed 10 of them for the loss of three.”