AIR-BORNE TROOPS

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 September 1944, Page 5

AIR-BORNE TROOPS

RELIEF MEASURES URGENT

DUTCH “CORRIDOR” FIGHTING

Siow Progress In South-East

LONDON, Sept. 24.

The British 2nd Army in Holland has made contact with one isolated air-borne force in the Arnhem area, but the great bulk of the air-borne troops who made the original landings are still north of the Neder Rijn and have not been reached by the 2nd Army. This group, which has been fighting against terrific odds for seven days, is still a strong fighting force. Correspondents say the isolated airborne troops in the neighbourhood of Arnhem, where the fighting is particularly fierce, are not only holding on grimly, but are hitting back. Nevertheless, it is stated, their position must be regarded as serious. Enemy shelling and mortar fire in the Arnhem area are becoming heavier and heavier, but casualties have been surprisingly few. In spite of strong opposition reinforcements of the Allied Air-borne Army and supplies were landed yesterday in support of the 2nd Army. British and American fighters, in strength, took part in the operation. Bitter fighting continues along the British corridor, but there is an improvement in the situation at Nijmegen. In the area of Antwerp our forces have secured another crossing of the Escaut Canal. On other sectors of the Western Front there has been little change. OFFICIAL SUMMARIES.

LONDON, September 24. Saturday’s communique from . Supreme Allied Headquarters said: — “The clearing of the Boulogne area was completed with the capture of Le Portel. . “Fierce fighting continued all day yesterday in the area of the Allied northwards thrust. Other troops crossed to the north of the Waal, and, after bitter fighting between Nijmegen and Arnhem, our troops reached the southern bank of the Neder Rijn (north branch of the Rhine). The enemy attacked the eastern side of our salient strongly, but the base was further widened by the crossing of the Bois le Due Canal, and on the west by fresh advances beyond Vessem (eight miles west of Eindhoven). “Our forces captured Stolberg, east of Aachen, and are mopping up the isolated enemy pockets in the town. There has been little change from the Dutch-German border south to the Luneville area. Enemy counter-attacks were repulsed at a number of places. German tanks and infantry were driven back by our artillery north-west of Geilenkerchen after an unsuccessful coun-ter-attack. South-east of Stolberg we inflicted heavy losses in repulsing German counter-attacks. Stubborn resistance was met from enemy pillboxes and defended roadblocks. In the area east of Diekirch our units were forced to give some ground. Active patrolling and mopping up continue on other sectors along the line. “In the Moselle Valley enemy counter-attacks were repulsed at Coin-sur-Seille, five miles south of Metz. Our troops reached Epina 1, and south of the town we forced a crossing of the Moselle at many points against stiffened resistance. The roads south-eastwards towards Remiremont are heavily defended. Further south, in the vicinity ol Melay, counter-attacks have been repulsed. Melisey, in the Lure area, has been taken. “On the Riviera, Mentone is in our hands. “Our fighters and fighter-bombers attacked transportation and communication targets in Northern France, Holland, and Western Germany.” SALIENT WIDENED.

To-day’s communique from Supreme Allied Headquarters says:— “The Allied salient from Eindhoven to the south bank of the Neder Rijn has been widened at several points, and a slight Allied advance was made in the Antwerp area. “The entire front from the Geilenkirchen area to the Meurthe Valley remains relatively unchanged, with stubborn enemy resistance, and numerous counter-attacks in all sectors. “Our patrols in the Aachen area are meeting fire from the outskirts of the city, where the enemy appears to be well entrenched. Stolberg is being cleared of isolated German pockets, but our troops in advancing south-east of the town are meeting with stubborn resistance. “A coun-ter-attacking German force east of Busbach has been driven oil. with an estimated loss of 40 per cent, of its strength. “We are mopping up German pockets in the sector bordering northern Luxembourg and our units along the ' entire German-Luxembourg frontier are receiving moderate artillery fire from the enemy. “A stubborn enemy resistance south of Metz continues. Our artillery broke up a small counter-attack at Pournoy. We have made gains nine miles north of Nancy, where the town of Morey has been freed. Enemy tanks and infantry in the area east of Nancy are offering a strong resistance. “Our troops have advanced to the vicinity of Benamenil, ten miles east of Luneville. “A small force of our heavy bombers attacked gun emplacements on the Island of Walcheren. Medium bombers and light bombers attacked strongpoints at Calais. _ Fighterbombers hit fortified positions in the Treves (Trier) area.” “Prisoners captured at Brest total 36,389, including five generals. The United States 9th Army has thus far taken prisoner 60,000, including 19,000 who surrendered south of the Loire.” SITUATION IN HAND GERMAN EARLIER SUCCESS LONDON, Sept. 24. The British United Press correspondent with the 2nd Army says a vital bridge across the Neder Rijn at Arnhem is reported to be stilt intact. Exceptionally fierce fighting is continuing between enemy infantry and tanks and the main force of airborne troops, towards whom Lieuten-ant-General Dempsey is thrusting. The air-borne troops are now desperately tired, but are holding ground and even striking out to gain more. “Enemy shelling is growing heavier on the right flank, and the main corridor to Holland has been expanded,” says Reuter’s correspondent with the 2nd Army. “The British advanced a total of six miles in the last 36 hours and captured Weert. and patrols pushed out towards Maescyck. where there is fierce fighting. The bridgehead over the Bois-le-Duc Canal has been broadened. A senior British staff officer stated yesterday that the Situation is in hand again after the attack had achieved some success, but the British have now cleared the threat to the highway. Germans are lurking in the woods attacking our soft-skinned vehicles.” * “The battle of the corridor in Holland is one of the strangest and most daring in history,” says a correspon-

dent with American-air-borne troops. “Never before has an army thrust so far into enemy territory along so marrow a ribbon. Air-borne forces (have pushed the Germans aside far 'enough to permit Lieutenant-General 1 Dempsey’s column to roll through free of small arms fire. Where they can bring up big guns, however, the Germans are capable of shelling the road almost at any point. Apparently well-organised German panzers from the east are making thrust alter thrust at the road, while from the west the corridor is under a constant threat by disorganised but desperate Germans attempting to flee back to Germany. “We have not been free of some sort of attack since Monday, when the Germans first appreciated the possible trap threat to all western Holland. They have attacked with tanks twice from the east, and with strong infantry, supported by heavyartillery, and twice from the west along the stretch of this corridor which this unit holds. These threats to the corridor, although they succeeded temporarily in cutting Lieu-tenant-General Dempsey’s supply column, are now systematically being reduced by advanced flanking columns of British armour relieving the paratroops.”

AIR-BORNE REINFORCEMENTS

Strong forces of the Allied Airborne Army were successfully dropped yesterday afternoon to support the 2nd Army’st drive to relieve marooned air-borne troops. Gliderborne British and American supplies were landed in spite of strong air and ground opposition. The Royal Air Force fighters in strength supported the operation. “The success of the operation, in which reinforcements and supplies were dropped, means staying power for the embattled air-borne forces,” says Reuter’s correspondent with American troop-carrying forces. “The glider procession was one of the longest of the week. Observers saw skytrains of Dakotas and gliders stretching from the airfields of southern England to the Dutch coast. There were only occasional bursts of flak as the skytrains skimmed over enemy territory at 500 feet, but the sky filled with flak as the gliders were loosed from the towing aeroplanes. The gliders went down safely amid clouds of dust as their noses skidded along the ground.” STRONG OPPOSITION. (Rec. 10.29 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 24. British infantry are now pretty firmly consolidated on the southern bank of the Lower Rhine, but the river is not yet crossed and no contact has been made with the encircled airborne troops, says Reuter’s correspondent with the 2nd Army, in a dispatch timed 10.50 to-day. There is strong German opposition north of the Lower Rhine in the Arnhem area, where they have concentrated elements of three infantry divisions, with armour. The Germans, hold the northern end of the Oostbuig ferry over the Lower Rhine and are sweeping the wide river with devastating fire, trying to prevent crossings. The British United Press correspondent says that the airborne forces still holding out on the northern bank of the Lower Rhine in the Arnhem area are now pressed together in an extremely small space. They have been fighting for a week with only supplies that could be dropped to them from the air. Everything possible is being done to establish firm contact between the southern and northern banks of the Rhine, but the difficulties of the situation should be stressed if false hopes are not to be raised. The 2nd Army advancing from the south is at present working at the end of a long, tenuous axis, and the crossing of the river is likely to develop into major operations. The R.A.F.’s attack, last night, against communication points in the Ruhr in an effort to seal off the German approaches to Arnhem is the latest attempt to aid the encircled airborne troops.

PATROLS MAKE CONTACT

RUGBY, September 24. A few Allied troops crossed the Lower Rhine near Arnhem, but this still does not represent a proper junction with the forces north of the river. The weather on Sunday was most unfavourable lor air operations. Substantial Allied forces are steadily strengthening the salient. In the eastern flank they reached Maasniek on the Maas, above Roermond. A correspondent reporting from on the Arnhem Road on Sunday,” says that British armoured patrols this morning succeeded in making contact with the air-borne forces in the Arnheim area. Whilst British infantry were pushing up the road reconnaissance units raced forward, leaving the main road, and, by taking, side roads, reached the south bank of the Lower Rhine and at once made contact with the air-borne troops who have been holding the bridgehead on the north bank since last Sunday. Before reaching the River our reconnaissance units also contacted the air-borne troops dropped yesterday between Nijmegen and Arnhem. Our reconnaissance units reports that the main bridge over the River at Arnhem is still intact. Earlier reports stated that our parachutists had captured the northern end of the bridge whilst the Germans held the southern end, but neither could get out on the bridge itself without being shot up. Our paratroopers holding the northern end have been subjected to a very heavy counter-attack and have been shelled and mortared continuously. The Germans claim that most of them were taken prisoner. If that is so the reason the Germans have not blown up the bridge is that they hope to recapture Nijmegen, toward which they have been counterattacking from the east for 48 hours without a halt, but they have been easily held by American parachutists assisted by British tanks and artillery. Most of the attacks came towards Beek. on the frontier three miles east of Nijmegen, from the enemy holding the Reachswald Forest in Germany. The corridor from Eindhoven has been further strengthened by British troops pushing up both east and west of the line taken by the armour in a thrust to Nijmegen. German counterattacks against the corridor died away in consequence. The Germans are reacting strongly on the rest of the front, but the Americans have taken Leyr, eight miles north-east of Nancy, after particularly hard fighting.

KEEPING OPEN CORRIDOR.

BESIEGED TROOPS HAPPY.

(Rec. .11 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 24. An American airborne unit, beating off constant German armoured attacks, is holding open the narrow

corridor along which General DempI sey’s spearhead is advancing to Arnhem, says Reuter’s correspondent with the American airborne forces in Holland. This unit, in a miniature offensive, this morning, smashed a strong German force less than a mile above the corridor as other units further north were expecting a panzer attack against General Dempsey’s highway. The offensive opened under a concentrated artillery barrage from airborne guns and British tanks. They rained hundreds of shells against the German positions for three minutes before zero hour, then paratroopers rushed the Germans from two directions through heavy ground haze. The Nazis answered with fire from 88’s and 75’s, but the airborne troops shoved on, completely disorganising the enemy. The Germans are believed to have moved to this area under cover of clouds which since the airborne landing have hampered air support. They were within range of the vital Allied life-line when the airborne troops attacked and sent them fleeing back in confusion. Hundreds of prisoners are now rolling in and the airborne troops are searching the woods and fields for others. The Germans along our corridor are being slowly squeezed back by the airborne troops, who are forcing them into the path of General Dempsey’s flank columns pressing north from either side of Eindhoven. The Combined Press correspondent with the airborne forces at Arnhem, in a message sent out last night, says: “We are pressed hard, but we are pressing the Germans hard, too. Our men have just returned from a raid against a German headquarters. They smashed the Germans’ radio, threw grenades against the Germans in the cellars, and came back with a portrait of Hitler and lots of German weapons. Some of the men are now plucking chickens for dinner. You would not think, if you could see these fighting men of Britain talking and joking, that they were participating in an epic struggle.” CANADIAN ADVANCE (Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 24. Canadians have driven five miles north-east ol' Antwerp and established a limited bridgehead across the Turnhout Canal, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Canadian Army The Canadians are not yet over the canal in force

Poles on the Sheldt actually crossed the water in a captured German E-boat, drawing heavy fire from the German batteries on the east bank, which almost sank the boat. The Poles kept it afloat until they returned to the Allied side of the river. Sieges of Dunkirk and Calais continued without incident. Low cloud and driving rain, with gales, are preventing major operations over most ol' .the Canadian sector.

NANCY-METZ AREA

ALLIES’ PRESSURE TELLING

LONDON, Sept. 24. A correspondent at Supreme Headquarters reports street fighting in Epinal (south-east of Nancy and 50 miles west of the German‘frontier). Our troops have also reached Remiremont (on the Moselle, 12 miles south-east of Epinal), and there is street fighting in the outskirts of the town. French troops have taken over the Col de la Pelouse, which they previously abandoned. The British United Press correspondent with the United States 3rd Army says the Germans lost at least 60 tanks in futile counter-attacks against the 3rd Army front in the last 24 hours. Our losses were considerably ' smaller. The German pocket north of Nancy has been cleaned up and many prisoners have been taken. In the toughest fighting of their campaign, Litutenant-General Patch’s men are forcing the Germans from their Moselle River crossings, and the enemy is not believed to have one complete division to meet the steadily grinding pressure from American and French forces, which is now being brought to bear all the way from, the Swiss frontier to Epinal. “The Germans, forced from fortifications along the Moselle below Metz have made a new major resistance line on the River Seille between Metz and Nomeny, 17 miles south of Metz,” says Reuter’s correspondent with the 3rd Army. “The Germans have fallen back five miles to prepared positions on the east bank of the Seille. The great seven days’ struggle between American and German armour east 01. Nancy has ended in a definite defeat for the enemy’s crack panzer formations. The struggle cost the Germans a total of more than 300 tanks. “Strong concentrations of German armour, attempting to delay Lieut.General Patton’s advance, hit advanced American units and pushed them back. Then reinforcements arrived and the German army found itself fighting the biggest tank battle to date. American tanks, artillery, tank destroyers, and bazookas, aided by dive-bombing Thunderbolts, took heavy toll of the enemy. The panzers made a last desperate bid on Friday, and'the battle continued into the night. The cleaning up of the German pocket north of Nancy has considerably strengthened the 3rd Army’s positions on the southern end of the ■ Moselle front.” ; Another correspondent with the 3rd Army reports that abortive German counter-attacks north-west of the'! Geilenkirchen and Busbach area cost! the enemy two out of every five, thrown in. The Americans are still meeting stubborn resistance in the j forest of Huertgen, south-east of I Stolberg. Allied patrols drew fire i from the outskirts of Aachen, indicat- | ing that the city is still well defend- 1 ed. [ Algiers radio announced that Gen-; eral de Gaulle left Paris by air to’ visit the French troops at the front, I PLANES ATTACK TANKS. (Rec. 11.35) LONDON, Sept 24. I Joining in the large scale battle between American and enemy ar-' mour near Nancy, this morning, the I Ninth Air Force Thunderbolts helped | fight the Germans to a standstill, says i the Exchange Telegraphs Agency’s | correspondent at Ninth Air Forcej Headquarters. At least 100 German! tanks and armoured vehicles were’ operating on the roads and in the,; fields when the Thunderbolts attacked from tree-top level. The enemy; were forced to take cover in the nearby woods, which the Thunderbolts bombed and strafed until their ammunition ran out. | One German tank which was left behind to cover the withdrawal was blown up. No estimate of the total number of enemy tanks knocked out has so far been made, but the pilots believe many were hit.

GERMAN ATTACK FAILS

(Rec. 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 24. American armour, artillery, and planes, to-day, successfully squelched a German counter-attack northeast of Chateau Salins, says the British United Press correspondent with the American 3rd Army. The attack began at 5.30 a.m. and it was completely beaten off by 10.30 a.m., due to the teamwork of the American big guns. The enemy used considerably fewer tanks than in the previous engagements, and these were unable to penetrate our defences. Our planes heavily hit the German transport behind the Moselle and cut many railways, covering a 50-miles area.

Reuter’s correspondent with the

3rd Army says 15 German ambulances filled with wounded drove into the American lines east of Nancy and gave themselves up. This and several similar incidents indicate that the enemy may be trying to send the wounded to American evacuation hospitals when possible owing, perhaps, to lack of medical supplies in some German sectors. . SPEEDY ADVANCES RUGBY, Sept. 23. The speedy advances of the French Army under General de Tassigny and of Lieutenant-General Patch’s 7th Army are commented on by a correspondent at Supreme Allied Headquarters. The former, in less than a month after entering the Modane Valley, advanced about 420 miles from the Mediterranean to the Jura area, while the latter in the 30 days after D Day, travelled 470 road miles, an average of nearly 16 miles a day. The two armies, when they made contact on September 12, had liberated one-third of continental France. GERMAN AMMUNITION LONDON, September 23. A report has come into Allied possession of an investigation of German ammunition on the Western Front, in which a German battery commander claimed that 1312 of 4372 rounds inspected were defective. A practice shoot on July 13 revealed that one of every two rounds was useless.

EJSENHOWER’S MISHAP

LONDON, September 23

■“The war will last only so long as the Gestapo makes the German nation annihilate itself,” said General Eisenhower, in a statement quoted by a radio correspondent. The correspondent disclosed that General Eisenhower’s aeroplane, in which he was returning from a recent front-line visit, made a forced landing in a marshy area. The aeroplane was only slightly damaged, but General Eisenhower wrenched a knee in helping the pilot drag it out. The Supreme Commander is now quite recovered and is as “fit as a fiddle.”

OCCUPIED TERRITORY.

ALLIES’ REGULATIONS.

LONDON, September 22. The first laws of the Allied Military Government are operating in Allied-occupied Germany. A series of laws under which German, citizens must surrender all firearms, also radio transmitting equipment, has been promulgated. German civilians can travel within the occupied area or across the borders only at the discretion of the military authorities. / The Military Government will take into custody all Nazi Party funds, property, records, and equipment from party administrators, who are directed to remain at their posts under penalty of aeath until an exchange is effected. All laws permitting privileges to the National Socialist Party and its members, and the law placing the Nazi Party above the authority of the law are abolished. The law lor the protection of German blood and honour (one of the discriminatory Nuremburg racial laws) has also been abolished. The Reich citizenship law denying citizenship to non-Germans is dissolved, and the Hitler Youth law requiring membership of the organisation, also the laws protecting the Nazi symbols, uniforms, and flag are abolished. The law preventing the establishment of political parties apart from the National Socialist Party is also dissolved. The regular civil, criminal and administrative Courts are suspended, and the Nazi Party Courts are dissolved.

The Allies will control the post and telegraph service, and establish a censorship. Any German who acts as a spy for the enemy, who aids the Nazis, who engages in looting or pillaging, who is guilty of sabotage or theft of Allied war material, or who deliberately misleads the Allies, will suffer the death penalty. English is established as the official language in all matters relating to the military government of Germany. CIVILIAN TRANSPORTATION. LONDON, September 23. General Eisenhower has directed that transportation of British. American, and other United Nations civilian personnel to places at present in the forward zone Lor the purpose of opening offices for various, private enterprises will not be authorised.

Responsible agencies of the British and United States Governments have been advised that Supreme Allied Headquarters will accept and provide transportation for, and otherwise care for, any civilians who are accredited by the service Ministeries of either country, or by President Roosevelt or Mr. Churchill. When the forward zone ceases to be a military area the question of authorisation for transportation of civilian personnel, and their subsequent supervision, will not be a military concern, but one for representatives of the various , Governments. Personnel and material lor private enterprises will not be transported into the forward zone in France, or into Belgium. Holland, Denmark. Norway and Luxembourg during the first phase of the administration of these countries. The announcement adds that allegations that the above stated policy is being violated will be thoroughly investigated.

LATE PROGRESS REPORTS SITUATION IMPROVING. LONDON, September 24. Better news has come to-night from four different points in Holland, says the British United Press correspondent with the British forces in a late dispatch. Firstly, supplies are being sent across the Neder Rhine lor the airborne troops at Arnhem, our patrols making contact with airborne troops at night across the river. Secondly, enemy resistance appears to be decreasing between the Waal and the Neder Rhine. Thirdly, the threat to the axial road between Grave and Eindhoven is officially considered to have ended. Fourthly, the Canadians between the axial road and Antwerp made a 10-miles advance on a 30-miles front against slight opposition. This anticipates that the Germans have decided on another major withdrawal. What is happening here is governed by the extent to which contact can be maintained with the airborne troops across the river, whose supply of food and ammunition is likely to be slender. The ability of the British soldier to hang on in the most difficult positions again made all the difference in the two or three critical days when the operation might not have been successful. The thrust today of two to (hree miles south-west of Uden. where the Germans were previously massing to cut the corridor followed up the clearing of the road ’last night. The British extended the bridgehead across.the Bois le Due Canal and reached Duerne, after a two-miles advance. Reuter’s correspondent with the 2nd Army says: The British penetrated a mile into Germany and captured Beem, on the main road to the Rhineland. A small number of 2nd Army troops under cover of darkness crossed the Neder Rhine to reinforce the airborne troops holding hi°ti ground just west of Arnhem. On the Canadian sector the enemy has withdrawn from the western end of the Escaut Canal towards Turnhout Canal. Civilians say that Turnhout has already been evacuated.

BATTLE FOR BRIDGES. * LONDON, September 21. The battle for the Dutch bridges is nearly won, says the “Daily Mail’s’' correspondent from the Arnhem front. Montgomery’s gamble is close to succeeding, despite . the German efforts to cut the life-line down the long corridor opened up by our armour and airborne troops. The Germans are paying dearly for the attempt to hold Arnhem. The hardpressed airborne forces thus far have prevented the Germans blowing up the bridge. The Combined Press representative with the airborne forces says: The German shelling of our little stronghold is more vicious and more continuous. They started this morning with one old gun whose shells sputtered oddly through the trees. Now it seems the Germans are bringing up batteries of 88’s. Confused firing 100 yards away may mean the German infantry are attacking. We can hear Spandau guns, but as our men are using captured weapons we cannot judge by the sound and cannot see for the thick trees. Typhoons earlier attacked the guns,’ but now it is raining again. One" day’s clear sky would make all the difference. Meanwhile; rain or shine, mortared or shelled, our men go on fighting, beating off attacks, and attacking themselves', until the 2nd Army arrives. Reuter’s correspondent at Troop Carrier Command Headquarters says: The Allied airborne forces and British .2nd Army elements on the south bank of the Dutch Rhine, near Arnhem, may soon be able to launch a new offensive. Troop-carrier forces have flown ipore than 8000 sorties since the first airborne • invasion seven days ago. The weight of the equipment the men carried is estimated to total at least 4,000,0001 b. Staff officers estimate the losses in the air landing for all missions not to exceed three per cent., despite the opposition. FURTHER IMPROVEMENT LONDON, September 24. The situation of the air-borne forces at Arnhem to-night seems brighter, says SHAEF. The Canadians established, a bridgehead across the Turnout Canal at Lochtenberg, eight miles north-east of Antwerp. The British -United Press correspondent with the Canadian Army says that Canadian patrols reached Turnout Canal along its entire length. The American Third Army smashed a German counter attack west and north of Dieuze, says the British United Press correspondent. American tanks, planes and infantry participated in the' battle. It is officially revealed that the Third Army since August 1 has knocked out 1,077 German tanks.