ALLIED COMMUNIQUE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 147, 19 December 1944, Page 5

ALLIED COMMUNIQUE

Ree. 9 a.m. LONDON, December 18. An Allied communique from Supreme Headquarters says that the intensity of the fighting has increased from the Monschau area southward to the southern end of the LuxemburgGerman border, with the enemy con-i-tmuing his attacks. Both infantry and | armour are now going into action I and in some sectors the enemy used small groups of parachutists. The Germans made gains near Honsfeld and also south-west of Vianden, south of Echternach. During the enemy's efforts to give air support to his attacking ground forces, we destroyed 108 of his planes, for the loss of 33 fighters. During aerial battles, our fighter- | bombers, operating mainiy against road ! traffic in the Monschau forest area and railway traffic radiating from Cologne, destroyed or damaged large numbers !of locomotives, railcars, armoured fighting vehicles and motor and horse--1 drawn vehicles. Much of the traffic was moving eastward on a road running along the Roer River to the east of Monschau. GAINS IN SAAR. Our forces in the Saar Valley are making steady progress in the Dillingen and Saarlautern areas. We advanced nqrth of Walsheim, which is eight miles north-east of Saareguemines. Heavy fighting continues around the Maginot forts in the Bitche area. Enemy resistance slackened slightly, but remains stubborn. North-east of ! Wissemburg we captured half a dozen villages inside Germany, including Kapsweyer, four miles east of Wisseniburg. and a mile and a half from the frontier. Ouy forces are now facing the Siegfried Line at many points.

On the Alsace plain we lost some ground to strong enemy counterattacks.