WAITING FOR BETTER WEATHER

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 3, 28 September 1944, Page 5

WAITING FOR BETTER WEATHER

New American Offensive LONDON, September 26. A Britisth United Press correspondent with the Americans says: Aobody coming fresh from ’abroad with the preconceived idea that the Germans are on the verge of quitting would get much support for this notion if he visited the front line here. The Germans may be intending to surrender, but you wouldn t think so from here. They have studded the countryside with pillboxes and artillery positions from which they slain shells into the Americans. “Approaching the front, which is here 10 miles inside Germany, you hear the rumble of artillery long before your arrival. It must be remembered that this isn’t strictly a solid front like in the last war. . , . “It is a long projection on a skinny salient running into Germany. lie can sec a farmers’ wife who still lives in no-man's-land. She appears whenever shells begin falling and waves a white handkerchief as a token of her strict neutrality. “The country looks so peacetul and rural that it seemed that we could march straight, ahead. Actually it is bristling with bidden defences, though here the Americans have the Siegfried Line behind them. , ~ “The explanation of our present holdup is bad weather, which permitted, the Germans to bring up tough divisions while the Allied airmen were unable to hit them. A few days of sunshine may change everything.” ■“The Times” correspondent on the Moselle front says that dull skies, heavy rain, and thick mud are adding, their unpleasantness to life along this front. However, the fight continues, with the American Third Army maintaining steady pressure. Six German, counterattacks were repulsed in the. Dieuze sector yesterday, each in battalion strength. Thirteen tanks were used in one attack, of which eight were reported to be knocked out. , „ The Americans, are gradually wresting position after position from the Germans, and when better weather makes close, continuous air support possible,, there may be another roll forward reminiscent of 'Patton’s advance in August. Enemy Strengthened. Reuter's correspondent . with the Seventh Army says that it is at present as cold and wet as any English winter. The Germans are taking advantage of the conditions by bringing in more artillery. They intend to make us fight hard for every mile to the Rhine. The Americans are receiving their first issue of winter underwear, overcoats, and extra blankets. Front-line troops have been shivering in light clothes. The British United Press correspondent with the American First Army says that the situation was static all today. The Germans fruitlessly counter-attacked on one sector in the Aachen-Stolberg area. lYmericau long-range artillery is continuing to pound the railway centres of Eschweiler and Duren, which are eight and 13 miles respectively cast of Aachen.