WON IN BITTER FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 21, 19 October 1944, Page 5

WON IN BITTER FIGHT

Stronghold In East Holland BRITISH SUCCESS (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received October 18, 11.10 p.m.) LONDON, October 18. British troops today after fierce fighting occupied the Dutch town of Venray, the main stronghold of the German salient west of Maas, the last strip of territory in the sector between the British troops and German soil. A Reuter correspondent lust night said that the Germans, who on the previous day bad shown signs of weakening resistance as they fell back to the town, had suddenly opened up concentrated gunfire, and the British troops fought their way into the town in the face of the heaviest enemy artillery fire and the thickest minefields encountered since the Normandy campaign. , Last night the British were holding half the town. The-Germans placed artillery at the street corners and snipers in trees lining the streets, and one German 88 mm. gun was firing from alongside the wall of a convent in which most of the civilians of the town were sheltering. Allied guns so far had not hit the convent, but rocket-firing Typhoons and medium aud light artillery were ceaselessly pounding the remainder ot the town. , „ Close Air Support. British infantry fought their way almost to the convent, using small arms and hand grenades, and the sappers were working continuously clearing mines, which were laid thickly in the streets. Sixty-four Typhoons, using the cab-rank system with a visual control post on the ground, supported the troops all day, attacking gun positions and also the Maas ferries supplying the Germans. A British United Press correspondent reports that British patrols which crossed the Neder Rhine on Sunday night reached Wageningen and found the enemy firmly entrenched 1 in the'town. There is no indication of any general German withdrawal from this important defence line west of Arnhem. The Germans are continuing to move troops qnd armour southward from the sectors opposite the tip of the Allied salient in Holland. The German news agency stated that a British army corps, equipped with loOv tanks, is already in the Nijmegen-Arnhem bridgehead waiting for the port of Antwerp to be opened. Near the Netherlands coast men of the Canadian First Army yesterday pushed steadily deeper into the Schelde pocket; aud tlie Germaus are reported to have been driven nearly to their last line of defence. The eastern end of the pocket is now completely enveloped. The area in the pocket has been practically halved since the Canadians began their attack 11 days ago. Germans Flood Island. While the Germans in the pocket are gradually losing ground, the enemy forces just across the estuary in the Schelde islands are still cut off by Canadian forces which dominate lhe landward approaches to the islands. Strong German counterattacks have failed to regain a village which the Canadians hold. On another of the islands dur aircraft have reported extensive floods, and it is thought the. Germans have blown up the seawall in an attempt to prevent Allied landings. Lancasters have attacked the dyke near Westkapelle in order to widen the gap and increase the floods on Walcheren Island.

DEEP INTO GERMANY

Southern Bomber Fleet (Received October 17, 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 16. The most northerly penetration Mid; die East heavy bombers achieved yesterday was an attack against great synthetic oil plants in central Germany, states tlie Exchange Telegraph agency correspondent at the Allied headquarters in Italy. This attack brought the bombers and their escorts witbin the orbit of the Luftwaffe’s contracted fighter screen, and as a result the Allied airmen encountered over 100 enemy planes in the neighbourhood of Dresden, of which they destroyed 19. Allied heavy bombers farther south bombed tlie Skoda works at Pilsen and also the Goering Benz works in the Linz area. Tlie heavy bombers carried out a big programme all day, but bud weather diffused the effort over a wide range of targets in Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia. Shipping was also attacked in the Adriatic and offensive sweeps were carried out over Yugoslavia. Last night heavy and medium bombers attacked railway'yards at Zagreb. Nineteen enemy aircraft were destroyed and 10 heavy bombers and six other aircraft arc missing. The German news agency states that heavy bombers from Italy today attacked Vienna.

TICKLISH AIR TASK

lity Tel.-runh Press Assn i ’npv right.) (.Special Correspondent.) LONDON, October 17.

"Tlie forward troops are repelling the enemy attack. Great damage was done. British batteries were very active in the area afterward. Thank yon." This was tlie text of a bouquet from tlie Allied armv headquarters after a recent attack by tlie New Zealand Spitfire Squadron which broke up German preparations for a local counter-attack against British and Caipadian troops at Gorp, on the border of Belgium and Holland, states the Air Ministry news bulletin. The target was a wood about five miles south of Tilburg where enemy infantry were seen assembling. It was described ns a very ticklish job. because ot tlie proximity of our own troops. Ming Commander R. Harries, D. 5.0., D.F.C., led the attack.