FLUSHING OCCUPIED

Evening Star, Issue 25325, 6 November 1944, Page 5

FLUSHING OCCUPIED

NEW BRITISH PUSH SOUTH OF MAAS FINAL CLEAN-UP OF WALCHEREN UNDERWAY (Rec. 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 5. To-day's Supreme Headquarters communique says that Flushling is now clear of the enemy. We made some gams north of the town, and our units which landed on the east side of Walcheren Island have joined,up with troops at the west end of the causeway. The British made gains up to two miles in their push across the Alftwaterings Canal (running westward from Hertogenboseh), which was launched yesterday evening, as the last remnants of the enemy forces south of the Maas fled north, says the Associated Press correspondent with the British. Backed by name-throwers, tanks, and devastating artillery fire the British advanced halfway between the canal and the Maas, capturing four villages five and seven miles west of Hertogenboseh, including Drunen, and cutting the main eastward road in this area. The German radio stated that the Fifteenth German Army had completed its disengaging movement in Southwest Holland. The German News Agency . quoted a High Command spokesman as saying that the British, ■with massed air support, had Presumed their attacks against the Arnhem bridgehead. The British last night dropped sabotage parachutists behind the German lines to prevent bringing up reinforcements. The spokesman claimed that all the parachutists were wiped out or captured. A Canadian Press correspondent says Canadian and Polish patrols who entered Geertruidenburg found the town clear of the enemy. Canadian patrols crossed to Tolen Island and occupied it without opposition. The final clean-up of Walcheren is well under way.

The Germans have been successful to a great extent in their plan to stand behind the Mark River to permit their major forces to escape over the Moerdijk bridge and at ferry points. A big percentage of the original 40,000 Germans in the pocket have fled over the escape routes, leaving strong rearguard forces, which are putting up a bitter fight. j . . After eome hard fighting, and in face of severe opposition from heavy artillery and numerous pillboxes, American First' Army troops up to early this morning had regained about 500yds of ground lost as the result of an enemy counter-attack at Schmidt, but they had not then recaptured the town, writes a correspondent at Supreme headquarters. Further south, and north-west of Metz, enemy reconnaissance in strength was repulsed, while in the area of Thionville Third Army elements are in the process of clearing out the town of Berg, on the western bank of the Moselle River, three miles south-east of the junction of the Luxemburg-German frontier.