PANZERS ROUTED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 50, 28 February 1945, Page 5

PANZERS ROUTED

PANIC IN A VILLAGE

LONDON, February 26. / The story of how crack panzers were routed when Third Army troops took Rittersdorf, on the Nims River, just north of Bitburg, is told by Reuters correspondent.

The. German force moved up from Bitburg with tanks ahd artillery under cover of darkness. They con- » centrated in Rittersdorf and planted outposts on the perimeter, but underestimated the speed of the 4th Armoured Division. The Germans thought General Patton's armour was some miles . away west of the Prum River, when suddenly Sherman tanks appeared, with infantry riding on them. The Shermans, after a swift crossing of the river, dashed into the town, where the Americans leapt from the tanks and tore into the Ger- *• mans. Hand-to-hand fighting followed, and then four Tiger tanks rumbled into action, but were knocked out by bazookas. The Germans then panicked and surrendered en masse, pouring from the houses.

There were only some 100 Americans in the town, but they captured about 1000- Germans. They also captured tanks, lorries, horse wagons, guns, fuel, and food stores, much of which was hidden under haystacks and barns. One German officer wa« shaving when he was captiired.