IN RHINELAND

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 68, 14 December 1944, Page 7

IN RHINELAND

American 7th Army Pushing On

CLASSIC INVASION ROUTE

(By Telegraph.—L’ress assn. —Copyright.) (Received December 13, 8 p.m.) ' LONDON, December 13. American troops north-cast of Hagenau, after a sudden eigbt-nnle dash yesterday, swept through tlie Maginot Line, and were fighting in the town of Seitz, just over a mile from the Rhine and 13 miles north-east of Hagenau, reports Reuter’s correspondent with the Seventh Army. Jumping oil before dawn from Sutflenheim, the Americans made the dash through Maginot forts and pillboxes against surprisingly weak opposition. The whole of tlie big Hagerau forest is now in American hands. The Germans had not manned the defences. The Americans found civilians living in some of the massive forts, lhe Germans earlier were reported to have assembled 12 guns in Sufflenheim and to have been' offering stubborn resistance, but at Pepp suddenly pulled out, opening the road for the Seventh Army, which made a clear run to Seitz. As the Americans entered Seitz, which is only eight miles from the German border where it meets the Rhine opposite Karlsruhe, they came under shelltire trom German positions just north of the town. Other forces, simultaneously with this thrust up the main Strasbourg-Seitz road, made a general push across the main road eastward in the direction of the linine and entered 12 small towns and villages, all of which were found clear of Germans. The fleeing German troops had blown the bridges behind them.

Tlie correspondent of the American Associated Press says very few prisoners have been taken in the drive through the Marinot Line, indicating that the Germans are making their long-predicted withdrawal into the Siegfried Line. Third Army troops, in assault boats under cover of a smoke-screfen. crossed the Blies River and captured the German town of Habkarehen. on the north-east bank of the river inside Germany, three miles north-east of Saarguemines. says Reuter’s correspondent at Third Army headquarters. The Blies River forms the German frontier in this sector.

Slight Withdrawals.

American troops withdrew from Bliesbruck, two miles south-east of Habkirchen. Allied artillery and tanks later laid down heavy fire against Bliesbruek,

and Thunderbolts bombed and strafed concentrations of enemy troops in that Tlie infantry at the Dillingen bridgehead withdrew a quarter of a mile on a one-mile front. . The Third Army, since the opening of lhe present drive on November 8, has destroyed 145 tanks and 412 big Runs. The German news agency has admitted tlie abandonment of Thana and the bridgehead at Kembs, on the west bank of the Rhino 10 miles north of Basic.

The Americans are thrusting along the broad stretch of tlie Rhineland which leads direct to Karlsruhe and is one of the classic invasion routes to Germany. Enemy resistance along tlie front appears to be cracking, and a correspondent says that tile Germans may soon be cleared from tlie entire north-east corner of Alsace. • Threat to Duren.

Five more villages guarding the Roer River fell today in quick succession to the American First Army which, in a surge forward on a 16-mile front, made general advances in some places of more than a mile, reports the Exchange Telegraph correspondent with the First Army, lie adds that after the fall of these villages First; Army troops are 300 to 600 yards from the Roer oh a four-mile front, and within 1000 yards of the outskirts of Duren. Reuter’s correspondent at First Army headquarters says one infantry division which fought its way. into Pier, live miles north-west of Duren, is reported to have virtually destroyed an entire German battalion holding the town, killing 160 and wounding Or taking prisoner the remainder. Duren is also sharply threatened by two other American thrusts, one thrusting along the main road from Aachen and the other on the River Roer south of Duren, where First Army troops control stretches of the river’s western bank. The German news agency stated that the American Seventh Army launched a new offensive with 15 infantry divisions and several tank divisions on a front of 60 miles against the Siegfried Line between Saarguemines and the upper Rhine east of Hagenau. With two strong wedges the Americans arc trying to outflank the forest area of the northern Vosges fool hills and Hagenau Forest.