SOFTENING-UP IN GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 2, 27 September 1944, Page 7

SOFTENING-UP IN GERMANY

Big-Gun Barrage

LONDON, September 25.

The American First Army has opened a devastating barrage on Germany with 10-inch guns apd heavy howitzers, Two towns have been set on tire. Among those bit are Julich and Duren, midway between Aachen and Cologne. Vital supply towns deep in Germany are now being shelled bv our'beaviest guns. Along the whole of the First Army front 240 mm. howitzers and 150 mm. guns are being directed on targets extending more than halfway to the Rhine from the German border. A British United Press correspondent, describing the bombardment against Germany, says: “A 50-iniles wall of heavy guns has opened up a tremendous soften-ing-up bombardment. The spectacular barrage has been kept up hour after hour, against all conceivable targets on German territory half-way between the German border and the Rhine. It is our answer to the recent sustained pounding of Allied troops in the Siegfried area. We. are throwing at least 10 for every one German shell.” Enemy artillery activity has also been increased. • Behind the Siegfried Line, into which the Americans have made an appreciable dent, community digging proceeds apace, aparently to make some form of switch line to link up with the Siegfried Line. Anti-tank and tank defences are breaking out like a rash, and the heads of village communities are organizing community digging parties to fortify their own localities. An American correspondent says that forces of the First Army have started expanding eastward from the Stolberg battlefield, and others south of Stolberg are widening the breaches in the Siegfried Line. Patton’s Army Ready? General Patton’s Third Army finally seems to have removed all obstacles against movements toward the Siegfried Line, says a United States radio commentator, broadcasting from France. There is good reason to believe that Patton has again taken the initiative. The Germans lost 21 out of 30 tanks which they used in unsuccessful counterattacks north-west of Dieuze last evening. says Reuter’s correspondent with the Third Armv. Signs of resistance iu the vicinity of Baccarat are decreasing. The French made advances of five miles north of the town. The operations of these French troons south-east of Nancy have been hitherto made under a veil of secrecy.

Epinal fell yesterday to United States infantry men of the Seventh Army as a result of a fast outflanking manoeuvre. American infantry have smashed into the Vosges mountains north of Belfort in the face of increased resistance.