OFFICIAL NEWS WITHHELD

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24445, 20 December 1944, Page 5

OFFICIAL NEWS WITHHELD

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, December 19. The latest official news of the fierce battle raging in the Belgium and Luxemburg portion of the Western Front is given in to-day’s Allied communique, which says: “Heavy fighting continues in the sectors where the enemy launched his attacks, between the Monschau area and the southern part of the German-Luxemburg border.” For security reasons the extent o£ the Germans’ progress, and the exact sectors where the fighting is going on, are not disclosed. The German High Command is also silent. Ovehtight dispatches, however, say that German spearheads yesterday penetrated westward to a point 20 miles inside Belgium. They reached the town of Stavelot, five miles southwest of Malmedy and 20 miles west of the German border. Rocket-firing Typhoons are reported to have attacked German armoured vehicles west of Stavelot. “The German counter-offensive, which has now developed into the biggest battle of the European campaign, forced Lieutenant-General Hodge’s men to fall back still further on Monday, until Field-Marshal von Rundstedt’s forces had advanced almost all along their 70-mile front,” says an Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent. “Once-liberated towns and villages, including Malmedy, are again under the Nazi heel. Long columns of American trucks are evacuating supplies and forward hospitals to safer areas in the rear.”

‘The Gelman counter-offensive has changed the tactical situation on the northern and central sections of the froht,” says the “New York Times” correspondent at Supreme Headquarters. "Von Rundstedt’s blow has increased .rather than lessened in the last 24 hours. “The 12th Army Group now faces a large-scale attempt to split its front. If the enemy can push forward for another three days from his last reported positions in Belgium and Luxemburg he will certainly delay the continuation of the Allied winter offensive. Von Rundstedt hopes to dislocate the American offensive in the north, and possibly in the Saar as well, thereby forcing their abandonment. "The German offensive must inevitably draw Allied troops from other fronts, and unfortunately the two nearest fronts are the 3rd Army’s to the south and the Ist Army’s to the north, where the great industrial sections of the Ruhr and the Saar are menaced. ‘Two salient facts emerge from the situation. First, that the Germans’ ability to fight a protracted defensive ba tle has been understood, but their ability to launch a strong counteroffensive has perhaps been under-esti-mated. Second, in spite of the Allied air forces’ hammering of the enemy’s railroads, he is still able to move a considerable number of divisions into the line and presumably bring up supplies. “The objectives of the offensive are to relieve the pressure on the Roer river-front (east of Aachen) where the Ist and 9th Armies present the greatest threat to Germany, and also to bolster flagging home morale by winning a battle on the Western Front. The Nazi Party needs such a victory to lead the Germans through a sixth winter of war. “The seriousness of the enemy s effort is indicated by the decision to risk the remainder of the Luftwaffe, the wholesale employment of infantry divisions from strategic as well as tactical reserves, and the commitment of first-class armoured units. It is too early to compare the present push

i FIELD-MARSHAL VON RUNDSTEDT With the Germans’ great effort in March. 1918; but each represented a desperate throw of the dice. “The length of the war depends directly on the results of this offensive. If the Germans are successful, they win much time. If the enemy s strategic reserve divisions are destroyed, then the Allies have hastened their inevitable triumph.” .. The correspondent of the Daily Express” at British Headquarters, re- . ferring to the thrusts over the Belgian border south of Aachen, reported yesterday that most of these were being held. “The Germans obviously intend by this move to hold us off from Cologne and keep us back from the Rhine," said the correspondent. ‘‘The whole scene might change quickly to our advantage if we hold them now. It is much easier to kill Germans who expose themselves to attacks than to get at them in underground forts. They suffer many more losses this way.” The correspondent of “The Times in Luxemburg reported that some German columns were trying to fan out astride our lines of communication in the manner that became familiar in 1940. He added: “Although the enemp’s troop concentrations are nothing like so great, there are broad similarities between the present operation and Sedan. There is complete confidence at Ist Army Headquarters in the army’s ability to deal with the situation. If the possibilities of the enemy's thrust are manifest, so are his risks, with powerful Allied armies on either flank.” . "A last-minute change in the Weather dramatically affected the German counter-offensive against the American Ist Army,” said a "Daily ’ Telegraph” correspondent. “The enemy staked everything pn placing the Allied air forces at a disadvantage When—unexpected by either side —the Weather suddenly changed the whole Situation in our favour. “It seems perfectly clear that the Germans based their plans on a Weather forecast and decided to launch the big attack on Saturday, when the Weather looked like preventing air operations for some days. Early on Sunday it seemed as if no Allied aeroplane would be, air-borne. The Germans were so confident of this that early in the morning they began openly moving motor transport, tanks, tad other armoured vehicles from

their nests to the front. However, conditions changed at dawn and we got the flying weather needed Scores of Thunderbolts and Lightnings swept down on more enemy targets than for months, and played havoc with them.” ‘‘Still Fluid” “This is undoubtedly a major German effort. The Germans are using some of their best units in the cpunteroffensive and the situation is still fluid,” said an American broadcaster with the Ist Army yesterday aftern°“The panzer division which is spearheading the main thrust is a crack division, which.has served on half a dozen fronts. There is n 0 hit-and-run character about this offensive Once the infantry made the initial breach the enemy moved in artillery. He means to consolidate and hold everything he takes, and to withstand an offensive. “Captured German parachutists revealed that they were trained and formed intp special combat teams for 'this attack over four weeks ago. "At one point in the fighting 30 German tanks, smashed across the border, followed by infantry-laden lorries, which soon overran a number of positions on the Allied side of the border,” said the correspondent of the British United Press with the Ist Army. “One of the first German successes was the recapture of the important Schneifel Hill, in the forest region north-east of Pruem.” The correspondent said that he saw rocket-firing aeroplanes flying low seeking out Allied concentrations of artillery and lorries lined up along the road Ten German armoured vehicles rolled into one town, forcing the Americans, who were armed only with rifles to pull out across the, fields. An’ American officer was sitting in a divisional advanced command post in another town when two German tanks rolled in. The officer said; It is quite an experience having the battle come to us. The tanks got within 100 yards of the command post and then both went up in flames as our tank destroyers got direct hits. Reasons for Silence "The imposition of a black-out on operations over the whde area of the German counter-offensive is only a temporary measure, and it should not cause undue anxiety,” reported Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Headquarters yesterday. “The last news before the security silence fell was that the Germans were still advancing at some points, but measures had been taken to deal with the situation. “In the meantime it is feared that any information about the areas of fighting or the gains by the Germans might help von Rundstedt, whose own communications at this early stage might be scrappy. . , , , . “The Germans, in order to launch this powerful blow which has penetrated Belgium and Luxemburg, have called in possibly more than half their reserves. A great deal of shuffling of formations by rail has been observed in recent weeks between Holland and Frankfurt. These are possibly the forces which are now attacking.’’ Air reconnaissance on Sunday disclosed the heaviest enemy railway movement ever seen behind the enemy lines on the 3rd Army sector. The "Daily Mail” prints a dispatch from Lee Carson, who is the only woman reporter with the United States Ist Army. She cabled from the thick of von Rundstedt’s new offensive: "Retreat is something new to these battletested Allied soldiers. There is no frantic milling, little cpnfusipn, no frightened faces, and few hot rumours. Every man is concentrating fiercely on ramming back this attack. The civilians of this German border area of Belgium are obviously frightened by the sudden flood of traffic moving both ways. They stand on the roadsides watching and flashing smiles to the soldiers. Their belief in the Allies is still very evident.’*