BATTLE FOR GERMANY

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 September 1944, Page 5

BATTLE FOR GERMANY

ENEMY’S STRONG RESISTANCE

MORE BELGIAN TOWNS FREE

PROGRESS IN EASTERN FRANCE

LONDON, Sept. 10.

To-day’s communique from Supreme Allied Headquarters says:— “Allied forces, clearing the Channel coast area, have made considerable progress round Bergues, five miles south-east of Dunkirk. Our units further east are approaching Bruges, and gains have been made north of Antwerp. “The development of the bridgehead over the Albert Canal is continuing to meet stiff resistance. Our forces advanced to Kermpt, four miles west of Hasselt, also to Moduwez, Marilles, Foix-les-Caves in the Tirlemont Huy sector. Other forces, both south-east and east of Liege, are in Limbourg after an advance of 14 miles. After thrusting through the Forest of the Ardennes to points 15 to 20 miles east of the Meuse River our troops reached the vicinity of St. Hubert. Elements further south entered Ecouviez, five miles east of Montmedy. The west bank of the Moselle River is cleared of the enemy in the vicinity of Pompey, six miles north of Nancy. “Allied forces continue to close in on the port of Brest, where the enemy is maintaining stubborn defence. “Fighters and fighter-bombers yesterday bombed and strafed transport communications and airfields in Holland and western Germany. Nine enemy aeroplanes were shot down in combat and five others destroyed on the ground. Fighter-bombers again attacked gun positions and strongpoints at Brest, and medium-bombers attacked similar objectives at Boulogne.”

UNOFFICIAL SUMMARY

LONDON, September 10

Troops of the British 2nd Army in Belgium are spreading out along the south banks of the Albert Canal and are greatly strengthening their forces by paratroops, S.S. troops, and armour, and there are signs that they intend to make a determined stand on this sector. Bourg Leopold, five miles beyond the Albert Canal, is again in our hands. In south-eastern Belgium American forces have reached St. Hubert 20 miles west of the Luxembourg frontier. Canadian forces have occupied Ostend and have cut the Ghent Canal, linking Ostend and Ghent, in three places. Canadians are reported to have entered Bruges. ' The Canadians have now hemmed the Germans in Dunkirk in roughly the same perimeter as held by the British Expeditionary Force in 1940, when the little ships were taking off our men from the beaches. At one point the Canadians are only five miles from the town, which is being shelled. The country between Calais and Dunkirk has been fairly effectively flooded, making operations difficult. Boulogne and Calais are also completely surrounded.

CANADIAN PROGRESS.

ENTRY INTO OSTEND

LONDON, September 10. The Associated Press says the Germans carried out some demolitions at the Ostend port area just before the Canadians entered. The port had been used as a sulbmarine base. “The Canadians who occupied Ostend have cut the canal between Ostend and Ghent, establishing a bridgehead on the north bank, states a report from Allied Headquarters. “Polish armour established another bridgehead at Nieuwendam, 13 miles west of Ghent, and a third crossing was forced by Canadian infantry at Oostcamp, south of Bruges.” “Allied aircraft yesterday mercilessly pounded the Germans attempting to cross the Meuse and Scheldt estuary,” reports Reuter’s correspondent with the Tactical Air Force. “Devastation has reached proportions comparable with that meted out to the remnants of the German 7th Army crossing the Seine.” m i . The Exchange Telegraph Agency s correspondent says the Germans are flooding the pocket behind them as they try to evacuate across the Scheldt. They are using all types Of craft, including 5000-ton vessels. “British, Canadian,, and Polish troops are closing the Channel pocket, and have made further progress, patrols reaching St. Nicholas, about 20 miles west of Antwerp. Our rocket-firing aircraft had a busy day shooting up barges packed with Germans trying to cross the Scheldt. “Ostend, with its valuable port facilities, fell to the Canadians without a fight,” said another correspondent. “The enemy apparently pulled back, preferring to extricate his troops rather than hold the port. It will prove of great assistance to the Allies, in view of the fact that the Germans are holding Calais, Le Havre and Boulogne strongly. Our air forces completely annihilated an enemy column of between 200 and 300 horse-driven vehicles near Thielt. British, Canadian and Polish troops, pushing up through the pocket, are gradually narrowing it, as the Germans make desperate attempts to escape from the trap. One group of Germans still holds out in the northern outskirts of Ghent, in spite of the fact that our forces are several miles north of that town. A fairly strong force of Germans attempted to break out from the Channel coast and disrupt the Allied headquarters. The attack began on Friday evening and continued until the early morning. An enemy formation thrust into the Allied positions between Lille and Ghent, on the main roads between the two towns. They probably converged on our lines from the regions of Dunkirk, Nieuport and Ostend.” LATER.

The Canadians from Ostend entered Zeebrugge, reports Renter’s correspondent with the Canadian Ist Army to-night. They met no opposition. At the Northern end of the Channel pocket the enemy is trying to form a line on the Bruges and the Ghent Canal, where fighting has been particularly heavy. Belgian Patriot troops fighting on the northern bank of the Schelde, north-west of Antwerp, are denying the narrowest of crossings of the river to the enemy, who is still trying to evacuate troops across the river mouth. The 1600 prisoners who passed through one cage, yesterday, included representative of 46 different units.

GUARDS LIBERATE BRUSSELS.

LONDON, September 10

“It was the Guards’ Armoured Division which liberated Brussels last Sunday, and the 11th Armoured Division which freed Antwerp,” writes a correspondent in Belgium. “Both divisions set up records in the distances they covered to reach and liberate the two cities. “The Guards left the area of Douai on Sunday morning and covered the distance'of 75 miles in 13 hours to free the capital by 7 o’clock in the

evening, while the 11th Armoured Division, also leaving the Douai area on Sunday morning, covered the distance of just 100 miles in 30 hours. There was considerable rivalry between the different Guards’ battalions as to which would be the first to enter Brussels. The Welsh Guards won. “During the last week 519 miles have been covered by Allied columns in their advances into enemy-held territory in Northern France and Belgium, and hundreds of square miles of country have been cleared of the enemy.” BRIDGEHEADS ENLARGED. LONDON, September 10. “Some of the bloodiest battles of the campaign are being fought along the banks of the Albert Canal,” says Reuter’s correspondent with the British 2nd Army. “In spite of withering fire from German mortars and 88 millimetre guns the British enlarged the bridgeheads at Gheel and Beeringen. The German Command is apparently staking everything on holding three waterways—the Albert Canal, the Meuse, and the Moselle.” The Associated Press correspondent with the British 2nd Army reports British vanguards forced the second crossing of the Albert Canal in the vicinity of Gheel, 12 miles from Holland. The crossing was made in the face of strong German opposition. The enemy rushed up fresh reinforcements from Holland to guard the northern sector of the Siegfried Line. A fairly large body of German troops unsuccessfully attempted to break out and cut the Allied lines of communication between Lille and Ghent. Fighting continued all last night, but the enemy was beaten off early this morning. “Allied patrols striking south-east from St. Trond (Belgium) have reached a point 15 miles from the outer zone of the Siegfried Line, says the British United Press. Correspondents report that the Germans are bringing troops from as far as Denmark to stiffen their defences along the Albert Canal. More than 30 trainloads of reinforcements were spotted in one day. . The British 2nd Army m Belgium has taken 12,000 prisoners in three days. The total number of prisoners captured by the 2nd Army is now 25,000. GERMAN VERSION (Recd. 10.45 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 10. The German withdrawal operations in Flanders continue with Allied units Dressing the Germans hard, stated the Berlin radio to-night. German rearguards south-west of Bruges have screened the retreat of the mam body of the Germans. German units in the Liege area are involved in bitter battles against far superior Allied forces. AERIAL AID. RUGBY, September 10. Marauders and Havocs flying from both French and British bases, to-, day, opened the first round of , the Battle of the German Frontier ” by bombing immediately ahead of General Patton’s southern wing, to remove barriers in the path of the advance towards Nancy. The attack saw six separate forces of British medium and light bombers and three waves or. French-based Marauders' deliver a concentrated bomb-load on two bridges spanning the Moselle at Pompey and Custines, about five miles north of Nancy and the highly fortified Foret de Haye, just west ot the city. The results of the operation were judged to be excellent. SLAUGHTER BY PLANES. (Rec. 9.20 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 10. Reuter’s correspondent with the Tactical Air Force in Belgium says: Allied planes, which yesterday carried out the biggest slaughter for a considerable time against German troops’ attempting to escape northward in the mouth of the Schelde, caused the greatest havoc along the Wemeldinge Canal —the route to Rotterdam. Figures for the day s destruction include 105 barges destroyed or damaged, in addition to many locomotives and motor vehicles destroyed or damaged. The Allied Air Forces yesterday pounced on 10 trainloads of Germans' moving to the Toul area, and destroyed 15 coaches and damaged' others. TRAINS DESTROYED.

(Rec. noon) LONDON, Sept. 10. German troops to-day jumped from escape trains from Holland, and ran towards ditches as the planes of the Second Tactical Air Force switched an all-out effort on transport lines, carrying Germans’ east of the advancing Allied land forces, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Second Tactical Air Force in Belgium. At least ten trains are known to have been destroyed and before evening the total will be much greater. It has been disclosed at General Dempsey’s headquarters in Belgium that Major-General Heirriche, Commander of the 85th German Infantry Division, was killed when trying to rush a roadblock north of Liege. R.A.F. Mosquitoes during the night attacked four trains, one near Deventer in Eastern Holland and three in the Metz area. After an attack on an ammunition train east of Metz the wagons blew up at intervals and the mosquitoes could feel the explosions at 3000 feet. AMERICAN GAINS. LONDON, September 10. “American troops have made gains south-east of Liege and advanced through the Ardennes Forest to a point from 15 to 20 miles east of the Meuse River, reaching the vicinity of St. Hubert. Lieutenant-General Patton’s troops are obliged to fight foi’ every yard of ground against increasing opposition.” “In the United States 12th Army group sectors there is little change in the positions. The Americans, pressing towards the Siegfried Line, have been battling hard for the last five days, and the Nazis evidently intend to make a final determined stand before the Americans P?,, 1 their positions further forward in the vicinities of Liege, east of the Meuse, south of Namur, and on the line of the Moselle between Metz and Nancy.” „ x . American troops of the Ist Army advancing beyond Liege are reported to be only eight miles from the German frontier town of Aachen. Other American columns are close to Maastricht. MAGINOT LINE PENETRATED. (Rec. 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, September 10. General Patton’s Third United States Army, after three days attack, captured the first Maginot Line tort, near Nancy to which it opens a road, says Reuter’s correspondent. After running for nearly four hundred miles, the Germans have turned

at last, says the British United Press correspondent across the Moselle, today. He adds: They are clinging to every hold on the east side of the Moselle. Our big guns are booming in the hills above Toul, while infantry in the woods and foxholes are waiting for concealed Germans to be blasted out into the open. Fighting has been really tough since we crossed the Moselle three days ago. The Germans Overseas News Agency stated that the Allies launched a major operation on a 60 miles . front between Verviers and Arion, and added: The Americans using massed tanks gained some ground. The Paris radio has broadcast an appeal to all listeners possessing documents relating to the Maginot Line to send them immediately to the Paris military commander, because they are urgently required by the Allies, who will soon, it was stated, be investing Maginot Line positions. WITHIN SIGHT OF NANCY.

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 10. General Patton’s capture of the first Maginot Line fort secures the Allied bridgehead at Toul and gives the Americans commanding positions along a wide stretch of the Moselle. Describing the capture, Reuter’s correspondent says: The fort is located at the top of a hill from which Nancy is clearly visible. The Americans, this morning,. fought up the steep slopes and blasted the Germans from the forward trenches, then closed in tossing hand grenades through sifts in the thick stone walls. The Germans soon began to withdraw, the fort being in American hands by mid-afternoon. Patrols searched the subterranean passages for mines and booby traps. Armoured spearheads of the American Ist Army, sweeping eastward from Liege through the railway town of Limburg, are now eight miles from the German frontier town of Aachen, which is a key point of the Siegfried Line, states the Brussels radio. The “Daily Telegraph” states that outposts of the Siegfried Line are now within range of Allied field artillery. The Americans in Luxembourg threaten the southern flank protection of Aachen. OVER LUXEMBOURG BORDER. RUGBY, September 10. The location of the American crossing of the Luxembourg bordei' is not yet revealed, but on a wide front north-west from Luxembourg we are progressing in strength along the River Ourthe in the vicinity of Marche, and east of St. Hubert we have made advances, says a correspondent at Supreme Headquarters. Further south elements pushing on from Pompey just north of Nancy, reached the village of Libedun. In the north the Germans are making every effort to retain a small area left them near Bruges. The work of enlarging the bridgehead over the canal south of Bruges is proceeding slowly and surely. The general increase in resistance as the western forces press towards the German frontiers is one factor slowing down the tremendous pace of the advance. The second factor is the continued detachment of the mopping up forces. As more and more of these are detached there is a tendency for them to take away from the general strength. The third factor is supply. The farther and faster the Allied armies advance the more they must pause in order to bring up'supplies.

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 10. According to the Paris radio Allied forces have crossed the Luxembourg frontier at a second point. The radio also declared that an attack against the Siegfried Line is expected shortly. BRITISH STATEMENTS. NAZI YOUTHS FIGHT* WELL. (Rec. 11.5 a.m.)~LONDON, Sept. 10. A violent battle is raging before the frontier of Holland, states Reuter’s correspondent in a dispatch from the Dutch border this afternoon. Famous English infantry and armoured formations are battling violently against fanatical Nazi youths aged 17 to 18 years. After Holland it will be the battle for Germany, hence the tenacious defence. A British staff officer said to-day: “I do not think very rapid progress can be expected hereabouts, until the Germans are given another good licking. They will continue fighting until we break them up.” An intelligence officer attached to another British which had been moving forward in 50-mile jumps, commented: “It is extraordinary—we have been 48 hours in the same place.” The correspondent adds that the Hitler youths are trying to seal off the two British bridgeheads across the Albert Canal. They nearly succeeded at Beeringen yesterday, when picked “do or die” German infantry, with support weapons, tried to re-take one of our bridges. 'l’hey did not succeed, because they encountered an armoured echelon which destroyed 33 lorries packed with ammunition, food and water. The tanks’ artillery blew the German force to pieces. It is doubtful if one of the German raiders regained his own lines. VY<? have now" enlarged and consolidated both bridgeheads. Fighting is progressing on the outskirts of Gheel, after an advance of 1200 yards in two hours. The correspondent continues: The northern bridgehead is now 5000 yards deep. We have so far encountered very little German armour, but the country is ideal for infantry defence, full of hedges, woods, and ditches giving anti-tank and mortar crews and machine-guns plenty of cover. Our armour, at present, has little chance to deploy, and is really more useful in a supporting role. It is a

SOBERING REALISATION

that the war is not yet over to find that after 10 days of racing through intact villages and cheering crowds that the gains are now again counted in yards and again at the cost of blood and effort and that they mean piles of rubble. We dominate the village of Hechtel, after fierce fighting lasting a day and a half, but have not yet captur- ' ed the village, which still contains' Germans. Similarly we have not yet \ captured Bourg Leopold, though Bri- ] tish tanks and infantry to-day were sealing off its 1 east and south sides. The Germans are continuously trying to find a weak link in the perimeter of our bridgehead. They actually tried to push through a few tanks between Hechtel and Helcheterem. The attempt failed after considerable losses on both sides. A young English captain said: “They failed with repeated determined efforts to flatten our bridgehead. We are killing a lot of Germans and have made a small advance. We are maintaining the pressure and wearing them down.” The establishment of the initial bridgehead fit Gheel was a tricky operation performed speedily during the night, when two assault boats got across the Canal. The Germans reacted quickly, but four hours after the first assault our troops were driving north from the far bank and sappers had a bridge over the Canal. BREAKING THE WALL. NEW YORK September 9. A “New York Times’s” correspondent, Drew Middleton, says: A decisive battle for Germany is about to begin. The West Wall position can be broken by frontal attack, or

i turned by a flanking movement, or hurdled by an Allied airborne army. General Eisenhower’s assault may be a combination of all three. One factor contributing to German weakness is that the Allies have great strength in their newest fighting service, an airborne army—three airborne divisions, two American and one British, have contributed greatly to breaking the Atlantic Wall. The Allied aerial strength has more than doubled, and the British and Americans have combined in one command. Furthermore an immense improvement in offensive weapons greatly reduced the West Walks original strength. This, added to the fact that in no field has the advance in hitting power been so great as in the air, makes apparent one of the West Wall’s basic weaknesses'. VON KLUGE AND ROMMEL. LONDON, September 10. Reuter’s correspondent with the British 2nd Army reports that a German general, captured last night, stated that Field-Marshal von Kluge was .dead and Field-Marshal Rommel seriously wounded. The general said: “Von Kluge was trapped in the Falaise pocket and spent a hellish 24 hours. He got out wounded and reached his headquarters, where he learned of his dismissal. He died of wounds aboard a train returning to Germany.” The general confirmed that Rommel had been badly wounded. Rommel, he said, was now convalescing, and would be fit for service in three to four months. The correspondent of the “Daily Mail” with the Americans on the Moselle River says that, according to reports of an American armoured unit, American troops, by a matter of minutes, missed capturing FieldMarshal Model, the commander-in-chief of the German western armies. “The incident occurred on Wednesday, when some of our tanks reached the outskirts of a small village and seized the house in which Field-Mar-shal Model had his command post,” says the correspondent. “The fieldmarshal’s desk chair was still warm. It was just a matter of sheer luck. The Americans captured some members of his personal staff, also Hitler’s picture and a swastika flag which decorated his headquarters. Field-Mar-shal Model is apparently one of the few high officers who escaped suspicion of participation in the plot against Hitler.” GERMANS’ NEW PLANE. (Rec. 10.20 a.m.) 1 LONDON, September 10. The new German jet-propelled twin-engined plane shot down over the Albert Canal, yesterday, is stated to have a speed of 700 to 900 miles an hour, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Americans. An anti-aircraft battery got it with the second round. SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN HARD BLOWS ON ENEMY LONDON, Sept. 10. Saturday’s Mediterranean Allied communique said:—“French and American forces have inflicted new, hard blows on the retreating enemy in eastern France, and liberated more important areas. West of the Saone, the French took Beaune, after two days’ fighting with forces attempting to screen the German withdrawal. Other towns occupied include the industrial centre of Le Creusot, Chagny and Montchanin les Mines. Further east the Americans reached the Doubs River at several places, overcame opposition at Besancon, and made advances. French forward elements occupied Pierre Fontaine and Maiche, near the Swiss frontier.” Advanced elements of the United States 7th Army, west of the Swiss frontier, have well cleared Besancon and are within 25 miles of Belfort. According to the Brussels radio French forces are only two miles and a-half from Belfort and the battle for the Belfort Gap has started in earnest. BELFORT GAP BATTLE. LONDON, September 10. “The battle for the Belfort Gap has started, with artillery fire and air attacks” says the Brussels radio. “French forces are two miles and a half from Belfort, and Baumes-les-Dames has been liberated by the French. The Americans advancing from Besancon are now 50 miles from the German frontier at the nearest point. t “Troops of the United States /th Army, driving steadily closer to the Belfort Gap yesterday cleared Besancon” reports Reuter’s ' correspondent at advanced headquarters of the Mediterranean Command. “The Germans tried to delay occupation of the town with small arms, mortars and machine-guns, supported by tanks and self-propelled guns while stragglers from the German 19th Army got across the frontier. The Allies "drove the Germans from heights on the south-west, and closed in on the town from three sides. The Allies have now driven to the vicinity of Roulans-le-Grand 12 miles further east of the Doubs River, and are approaching Baumes-les-Dames. French forces have captured Autun.” “The remnants of the German Army, with orders 1 from Hitler to reach the Siegfried Line at al] costs, are making desperate efforts to get through the Belfort Gap,” says a corresoondent. “It is a race with the Germans harassed on one flank by French colonial troops and on the other by United States armour and infantry flanked by the French. This may develop into a first-class battle at ' any moment. Other German forces from Central France, 50,000 to 60.000 strong, and more or less in disorder, are stated to be trying to reach the frontier between Orleans and Chalon-sur-Saone. “Allied forward elements have penetrated the Foret de Chaux, 20 miles from Besancon, between ' the Rivers Doubs and Doue. The French operating between the Americans and the Swiss border have occupied pontarlier and, pushing north, have I reached a point 17 miles east-south-i east of Besancon. The French operI ating on the west flank battered ! through strong opposition beyond Chalon.”

70,000 PRISONERS

RUGBY, September 10

Of the 70,000 prisoners taken in Southern France 40,000 were credited to the French, as the result of the capture of Toulon and Marseilles. The battle for Belfort Gap is now progressing says a Rome correspondent. American and French troops are. running into increasing resistance, but are making good progress toward Dijon and Belfort itself. Stubborn fighting is reported in the vicinity of Nuits St. Georges, a famous vintage town 13 miles from Dijon. Autun 40 miles south-west of Dijon, has been occupied, Pontderiode which the French occupied is only nine miles almost due south of Belfort. FURTHER PROGRESS. r (Rec. 9.40 a.m.) LONDON, September 10. The 7th Army made further substantial advances’ against stiff resistance northward toward Dijon and north-eastward of the Doubs River Valley, reports an Allied communique. The French pushed some kilometres northward after the capture of Beaune. The Americans in a drive up the Doubs Valley to the German frontier cleared the villages of Biaume les Dames and Cerval. French elements have reached Pont de Riode and St. Hypholite. Briancon has been again cleared of the enemy. We have taken about 7000 prisoners since the start of the Southern France campaign.