ARTILLERY BARRIERS

Evening Star, Issue 25300, 7 October 1944, Page 7

ARTILLERY BARRIERS

GERMANS STRENGTH GREAT ENEMY DIGGING FOR TRENCH WARFARE (Eec. noon.) LONDON. Oct. 6. American tanks and infantry ad- , vanced east of Beggendorf and east of Herbach. They gained another mile. At Opheuseden, 12 miles north-west of Nijmegen, the Germans launched an attack from the west and forced the Allied troops back in the neck of land where the Waal and Jhe Lek are nearest each other. In a counter-attack; howteverj the. Allies'restored thel positions. It is estimated: that the Germans lost. 200 killed and 75 prisoners, roughly onethird of the attacking force. There is no confirmation of the German report of an Allied air-borne landing north of the Lek (Neder-Rhine) in this area. An attack on the aastern side of the salient near Mook was repulsed. - The ' Evening Standard's ' correspondent on the Beggendorf sector of the front says the outcome of the iargest battle so far between American and German tanks, which began last night,- will determine the fate of the Germans in this area. . The great volume of German artillery • fire has slowed down General Hodge's offensive to a walk. The Germans all last night threw large numbers of new guns into the tattle. There is little prospect of any advance which will make any appreciable tactical change on this front until the artillery and tanks have been dealt with. The enemy is using the hills and great slagheapsdotting the countryide as defensive positions. His artillery is firing over a prepared field on which the ranges are corrected to the last inch. Heavy German counter-attacks are being made against the Americans in and around Fort Briant. says Reuter's correspondent with the American Third Army. The Germans attempting to relieve the defenders of the fort attacked early this morning with tanks and infantry after a neighbouring fort had heavily shelled the Americans. (Resistance is stiffening all along the Moselle front. The artillery duels are the heaviest so far. ' It is increasingly clear that the Germans in this area, are hoping to establish H something resembling last war's trench warfaYe. Germans can be seen with picks and shovels digging trenches and dugouts. t The Americans of the Seventh Army are pushing ahead in steadilyworsening weather. They are now within eight miles of Belfort. A. Czecho-Slovak unit is now operating with the British Army on the western front. ÜBACH REDUCED TO RUBBLE. The Germans are counter-attacking fanatically, throwing in all available resources in an effort to hold on to the rital high ground which the Americans are assaulting east of Tlbach, says Reuter's correspondent. Enemy opposition is increasing hourly. The German defences south-east of Übach comprise a collection of powerful reinforced blockhouses, plus expertly-camouflaged anti-tank self-propelled, and machine guns.. The British United Press correspondent quotes one American tank commander as saying: " The fighting here is tougher than at Anzio. The Germans' artillery fire is the heaviest we have experienced." Übach has been reduced to rubble. The Germans, prodding the Allied salient, thrice counter-attacked to-day, says the British United Press correspondent with the Britisli Second Army in Holland. The strongest counterattack was launched at the north-west corner of the spearhead in the neighbourhood of Heusden, 13 miles west of Arnhem, on the Neder Rhine. The Germans used the greater part of a. battalion against a narrow section of our line and our troops were pushed back I,oooyds before the lino was tightened. Second Army troops reformed in the afternoon and launched their own counter-attacking, regaining all the lost ground. They killed at least 200 Germans and took 75 prisoners.