ANTWERP AND MAAS

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 November 1944, Page 5

ANTWERP AND MAAS

ALLIES’ IMPORTANT PROGRESS

GERMAN RETREAT HASTENED

AMERICAN GAIN NEAR METZ

LONDON, October 31.

The long, grim battle to open the sea route to Antwerp is nearly over. .To-day’s Allied communique reports that the Scheldt Estuary island of South Beveland is now in Allied hands, and that the advance has reached the causeway linking South Beveland with the flooded island of Walcheren. On the south bank of the Scheldt Estuary about 3000 Germans are contained in an area about five miles square. They are all that remains of the force ol 10,000 originally surrounded here. To the north-east the Allied forces have almost reached the lower Maas.' The pace of the German retreat has ouickened. North-east of Breda the British 2nd Army has liberated the large town of Oosterhout. Troops were last reported to be in sight of the Maas, two miles away. Armour and infantry of the Canadian Ist Army have liberated Rosendaal, the last stronghold in the original Ger-, man defence line, and are now three miles from Steenbergen. Four bridges over the Maas have been knocked out, but three remain to the Germans. Aircraft are attacking Gei- j man troop convoys retreating to the bridges, but correspondents estimate that about half of the German 15th. Army has managed to cross the river. The town of Maizieres, six miles north of Metz, has fallen to American 3rd Army troops, after 36 hours of. house-to-house fighting. Maizieres is important, because forces holding it; can outflank part of the ring of forts round Metz. The British 2nd Army during the week ended October 27 captured 39 officers and 2947 other ranks, according to official figures from the 21st Army Group Headquarters. Since D Day the British 2nd Army has taken 83,582 prisoners. The Canadian Ist Army in this period took a total of 5063. The total since D Day is 82,744. French Forces of the Interior have taken 20,000 prisoners since D Day, and the combined official prisoner figures of these three groups, British, Canadian, and F.F.1., since D Day, is now 186,326.

OFFICIAL SUMMARY

LONDON, October 31

To-day’s communique from Supreme Headquarters says: “South Beveland is in Allied hands. Our forces have reached the causeway leading to Walcheren. In the Scheldt pocket we freed an area two miles south-west of Kadzand. There is heavy fighting in the area of Sluis and. our troops reached the outskirts of Sluis. Good gains were made in the Bergen Op Zoom-Rozendaal sector, despite enemy mines and booby traps. We are within twenty miles of Teenbergen and have reached the area of Oudgastel. We made some progress north-east of Breda. Our troops are across the road between Bergen Op Zoom and Breda area. Our advance north-west of Tilburg continued on a broad front. An enemy counter-at-tack in the Meijel area made no headway on Monday. We cleared the enemy from Maizieres Les Metz. Patrolling continued in other regions from Aachen to Luneville. We made slight gains east of Rambervillers ana freed the villages of Jeanmeml and Bru two miles east of Rambervillers. Activity from Luneville to the Swiss border otherwise consisted largely 01 patrolling. We repulsed counter-at-tacks without difficulty.” „ Reuter’s correspondent at SHAEr states: The Allies since D Day have taken 637,544 prisoners, representing a greater German force than that at present defending the Western Front. Twelth Army Group have taken a total of 292,363 of which the American First Army has taken 199.413 and the Third Army 92,950. The Six to Army Group has taken a total of 108,855 of which the Seventh Army has taken 50,916 and the First French Army 57,939. American Ninth Army total for Brittany and Loire operations is still 50,000. CANADIANS ACROSS CAUSEWAY (Recd. 11.55 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 31. The Canadians have reached the western end of the 150 ft.-wide and mile-long causeway linking South Beveland and Walcheren Islands, states Reuter’s correspondent at 21st Army Group Headquarters. The Canadians had to slash their way through the Germans along the causeway. The Canadians poured over the bodies of their fallen comrades between screaming shells fired at point-blank range down the heavily-mined highway, but the worst is over. The Canadians are now about to push into flooded Walcheren itself. It is stated at SHAEF that Walcheren is so completely flooded that only a vague outline of the island is discernible from the air. Only the treetops show in most places. Flushing itself is difficult to identify as a port except for the dock structures. THE MAAS REACHED RUGBY. October 31. British troops have reached the River Maas, three miles east of Geerthraidenberg. writes a correspondent with the 21st Army Group. Captured German maps indicate that the withdrawal of all their troops not only across the Maas but also over the Waal began bn October 22. The maps show the trail of the retreat, with headquarters marked along the routes .during the journey. For the purpose of the movement it was planned to use the two main bridges over the Maas, and-three ferries. On the eastern sector of the British Army front a battle was fought in thick fog for the posssesion of Leisel. Our troops are in the town, but it is not yet clear of the enemy. The Germans have received a severe knock in this sector, according to the Second Army spokesman, and it has been necessary to make certain reliefs for their front-line troops. Generally it has been a quiet day along the whole front, but bridging preparations by the enemy across the canal in the Miejel area indicate that a further flare-up may not be long delayed. The present slowing-down of enemy operations is probably due to regrouping after his heavy losses along the eastern .section of the front. GERMAN ATTACK STOPPED (Rec. 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 31. British reinforcements thrown in beside the Americans who bore the! brunt, of a heavy German assault east of Einhoven, to-day, helped turn the tide. The Allies are beginning to win back the lost ground. They had, this morning, driven a wedge back into the edge of Liessel and had also regained ground north of the town. The only place where the Germans are holding firm south of the Maas is west of Hertogenbosch says, Reuter’s correspondent with the! British Second Army. Tne flight of: the Germans over the Mark Canal, the Moerdik bridgehead and the ferries to Central Holland has resulted in scenes similar to those when their battered Seventh Army fled to

Flushing, according to SHAEF seems to be gradualy disappearing in the sea, following the R.A.F.’s dykebreaking raids on Walcheren Island. The Berlin radio to-night stated that Marshal Montgomery kept intact his masses of troops in the Nijmegen sector “for a great offensive in the direction of the North German Plain.” It added that these troops had not been used in the South Holland offensive nor drawn upon to meet the German counter-attacks south-east of Eindhoven. Instead two American formations were placed under Marshal Montgomery’s command, one south-east of Eindhover and the other in the drive towards the Maas.

STRATEGY CRITICISED

LONDON, October 31.

The “Daily Telegraph” wrote: “Lieutenant-General H. G. Martin says: The Allies need the port of Antwerp, to-day, perhaps more than ever. Its opening is now at last in sight.” He speculates upon the verdict which the historian will pass on the Allied operations in the West, aftpr the initial break-through in Normandy, and suggests: “The Allies should have gone flat out for ports suitably placed to serve whatever final offensive or knock-out they bad in view.” He suggests that the most promising direction was through the open plain of Hanover into the Rhineland and Ruhr, so that the real goals were Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

“enemy glass-mines

LONDON, October 31. The Germans are now using an allglass land mine to impede the progress of Allied troops in Europe. The glass mines are an improvement on wooden mines that were tried earlier. Allied engineers have been using metal detectors to indicate the whereabouts of hidden bombs and booby-traps. These devices are extremely sensitive to the smallest pieces of metal, but the Germans have built glass firing-pins into their latest weapons. As their retreat in Europe continues, the Germans are thinking up more cunning devices to add to the difficulties of Allied engineers who delouse areas abandoned by the enemy. An engineer told a correspondent with the 3rd American Army that the Germans had gone booby-trap mad. He said that nowadays, every jam tin, piece of wire or string, table, chair, helmet and book must be investigated. Still most hated, however, is the mine familiarly known as “Bouncing Betty,’ which, when disturbed, leaps three feet in the air before detonating. GERMAN FOOD SHORTAGE. RUGBY, October 31. Mr. Dingle Foot, in the Commons, discussing The Germans’ food situation, said that, although the weather was very favourable throughout last Winter and Spring, during this Summer most of the crops in Germany, particularly root and fodder crops, had suffered a prolonged and widespread drought. Oats, barley and potatoes had suffered considerably, while the shortage of fodder crops was likely to affect the livestock situation/ “Preparations are under way for the premature slaughter of a number of young pigs. This may create some temporary meat surplus, but probably will lead to a shortage later. The fat situation is causing the German authorities serious anxiety,.while a reduction in tire bread ration was announced on October 16.”

I the Seine. The Germans are going back in droves, using every form of transport for themselves and their eauipment. The Allies are fighting their way to the Maas through waist-deep, icy water, in ditch after ditch and dyke after dyke. The Allies’ drive from South Beveland to Walcheren is meeting with severe opposition. The attack opened at dawn to-day under fire from 88 s and mortars. Only the crust remains defendable on Walcheren. The rest is flooded. , FIGHTING IN LEISEL (Rec. 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 21. Describing how the British fought their way back into Leisel the British United Press correspondent outside Leisel, to-night, says: “The battle occurred in misty weather, with shells' crunching down *in the ruined houses. An officer said: ‘By midnight last night we had fought our way in and were holding one side of the village street while the enemy was holding the other. It was a question of winkling them out of each of the fortified houses and positions, just like the old days in Normandy.’ One group of 50 prisoners, including two officers, are reported to have surrendered at the first burst from the guns of a tank. The first prisoners brought in had been in the Army only a lew months. One was a Luftwaffe mechanic who had been sent in ‘to gain battle experience.’ Another was a bomber pilot-trainee who was discharged when the Germans scrapped their bomber courses on the introduction of V. one. He said: ‘I was too short lor a fighter pilot so I was sent to the front for battle experience too.’ ” ANTWERP BATTLE ENDED (Rec. 2 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 31. While British troops are fighting for the Maas crossing, to-night, General Dempsey’s spokesman-announc-ed: “The battle for Port Antwerp is over in our favour,” stated the “Daily Express’ correspondent in Holland “Our troops overwhelmed the stiffest opposition since Caen in some of the worst weather of the war. Many have been battling non-stop day and night, fighting often up to the waist in water, fording rivers, canals, and streams. They left ditches and dyke® piled high with German dead. The “Daily Mail” says: All that remains to be done south of the Maas is vast mopping-up operations. When it is complete, Marshal Montgomery Will have shortened his line in Western Holland from something like 150 miles to about 35 miles. The British United Press correspondent says it is believed the remaining Germans on Walcheren Island have not sufficient supplies to stave off defeat lor long.