Seven Miles From Hanover

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24536, 9 April 1945, Page 5

Seven Miles From Hanover

AMERICAN DRIVE IN CENTRE

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. ll p.m.) LONDON, April 8. British troops are within seven miles of Hanover and United states 9th Army forces have by-passed this important centre of north-west Germany 10 miles to the south. To the north, other British troops are within 10 miles of the great port of Bremen, near the mouth of the Weser river. The British in the north are less than 140 miles from Berlin, but there are reports that troops of the United States 3rd Army have reached Eisleben, only 100 miles from the German capital. Asecurity black-out covers news of the United States 3rd Army. There was little opposition to Allied crossings of the Weser river. The thrust towards Bremen by the 7th Armoured Division (the “Desert Rats”) is led by the 11th Hussars, who made a dash down the valley of the Weser. The British troops moving towards Hanover are led by the 6th Air-borne Division, with the 6th Paratroop Brigade in the van. A Scottish reconnaissance nnit has reached a lake north-west of Hanover. It is reported that the-Germans have lost all direct communication between Bremen and Hanover. The United States 9th and Ist Armies are expanding their bridgeheads across the Weser. The Ist Army threw back a German counter-attack, destroying several tanks and killing or capturing half the enemy infantry. . ' The Germans in the Ruhr pocket were squeezed still more by the American armies, but are still resisting stiffly, particulily north-west of Winterberg. • The Canadian Ist Army has cut off the Germans in the west of Holland by the capture of Zwolle. Allied paratroops were dropped over a wide area of Holland yesterday in the path of the Canadian troops. The size of the parachute force cannot be disclosed, but it is not believed that the operation was on a great scale. No glider troops were used. The paratroops landed at a time when resistance to the Canadians was stiffening on both flhiib.