HOLLAND FRONTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 November 1944, Page 5

HOLLAND FRONTS

STIFF FIGHTING CONTINUED

NEW LANDINGS NEAR FLUSHING

CANADIANS MAKE PROGRESS

LONDON, November 1. ' ; In South-western Holland the only German forces remaining south of the Maas are rearguards. It is not . likely that they will remain there long, as British and Canadian forces are swiftly closing up to the river. Troops of the British 2nd Army have already reached the Maas at one point, and guns are shelling the Germans as they are ferried across. Yes- ■ terday a thick fog assisted the retreating enemy. ‘ Hard fighting continues on the east flank of the Allied salient m Holland. Here the Germans have been driven from the village of Liessel, 14 miles north-west of Venloo. So far, the Germans’ attacks west of Venloo are reported to have cost them 20 tanks. Front line correspondents agree that the battle in South-west Hol-1 land is almost ended. The corres-, pondent of the Associated Press with, the British forces reported yester-. day; “The victorious British and Canadians are sweeping the last rem-! nants of the German • sth Army back across the Maas. The bulk of the German forces, originally estimated at 120,000 have been witthdrawn north of the Maas. Only 10,000 or I 20,000 remain to fight delaying rearguard actions south of the river. ! “A staff officer said: ‘lt can only be, a matter of days before the Germans are pushed back to the Maas on the west flank of our salient. Tnere is no ( sign of panic in the enemy’s withdrawal, but he is pulling out fast.’ ” “British troops reached the Maas three miles east of Geert Huldenberg (15 miles north-west of Tilburg),” said a correspondent wtih the 21st Army Group. “Captured German maps indicate that the withdrawal of all their troops not only across the Maas, but also over the Wai, began on October 22. The maps show the trail of the retreat, with headquarters marked along the routes during the journey. For the purpose of movement it was planned to use two main bridges over the Maas and three ferries.

CAPTURES NEAR NANCY.

“The only place where the Germans are holding firm south of the Maas is west of Hertogtnbosch,” said Reuter’s correspondent with the British 2nd Army. “The flight of the Germans over the Mark Canal, to the Moerdijk bridgehead and the ferries to Central Holland, has resulted in scenes similar to those when their battered 7th Army fled to the Seine. The Germans are going back in droves and are using every form of transport for themselves and their equipment.”

OFFICIAL SUMMARY

LONDON, November 1. To-day’s Supreme Allied Headquarters communique reports: Heavy fighting went on throughout yesterday on the causeway linking South Beveland and Walcheren Islands. We reached the line of the Mark River, between Oudenbosch and Breda, and crossed the river. We have continued to make good progress northcast of Oosterhout. We have reached the Maas River, north of Kapelle. We have captured Raamsclonk, Sprang and Waalwijk, and are in the outskirts of Waspik, four miles east of Raamsdonk. In South-east Holland there has been heavy artillery exchanges north of Baccarat.

Our troops have entered Saint Benoit, five miles east of Rambervillers, against stubborn resistance. We have freed the village of Lespoulieres, four miles east of Bruyeres.

LANDINGS ON WALCHEREN

(Rec. 10.15 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 1. British commandos, under Canadian Command, effected sea-borne landings at dawn to-day in south and west Walcheren. Reuter’s correspondent at the Twenty-first Army Group Headquarters reports that good progress has been made. The Canadians, advancing over the Walcheren causeway, obtained a few hundred yards tooting on the island itself. The Canadians were earlier pinned down only 25 yards from Walcheren. The Germans had blown a vast crater in the causeway where it joins the island and subjected the Canadians to heavy mortar and automatic arms fire.

Americans and Poles who yesterday forced a passage over the Mark River, to-day, were clinging grimly to their limited bridgeheads. The Germans are counter-attacking in strength supported by heavy artillery fire. Their atacks are mounting in ferocity. Farther west, German paratroops of the Hermann Goermg Division are fighting strongly against the Canadians pushing north from Bergen op Zoom.

The trapped garrison at Dunkirk has flooded a large area east of Dunkirk before the Allied lines.

Reuter’s correspondent with the Canadians states that the Canadian First Army captured a total of 18,Out) prisoners and liberated 850 square mnes since launching the Scheldl clearing operation on Ocujoer 6 Heavy casualties were additionally inflicted against the enemy. Nearly 800 were taken prisoners in the Scheldt pocket, which has been practically eliminated. WALCHEREN BRIDGEHEADS. (Rec. 12.20) LONDON, Nov. 1. Most of Blushing is included in the first bridgehead which the British and Canadians have established on Walcheren, says the British United Press correspondent with the assault troops. The second bridgehead includes Westkapelle and extends 3000 yards southward. Massed guns at Breskens subjected Walcheren gunemplacements to pulversing bombardments and Mosquitos bombed the island all night. The troops crossed the Scheldt in amphibious lorries. . The first wave got ashore practically without opposition, but the second wave met ma-chine-gun fire which was later reinforced by heavy artillery. However, only a few of the craft were sunk and the casualties were very light. Fighting conditions are difficult because the R.A.F’s breaching of the dyke forced the British and Canadian troops to battle, along exposed dykes where the Germans were able to use mortars and 88’s with the maximum effect.

The German opposition against the Canadians advancing into Walcheren from Beveland slackened slightly after the landing, says Reuter’s correspondent, but the Canadians so far are holding only about 100 yards of Walcheren under machine and mortar fire. The Canadians south of the Scheldt captured Westcapelle (distinct from Westkapelle on Walcheren)) and entered"Knocke, which is one of the last strongholds of the dwindling-German pocket. The fighting died- down to-day south of the Maas where the front became a sticky, rain-lashed quagmire. Belts of mist give the German rearguards all the cover they need

These detachments are mostly specialists in delaying tactics. The bulk of the German 15th Army is already over the Maas along. which the British hold a stretch of 2000 yards north of Capelie. ‘ British tanks and infantry on the east flank of the Dutch salient threw the Germans back across the Deurne Canal in a counter-thrust north-west of the recaptured town ot Liessei. Others advanced two miles down the road towards Meijel. The Germans attacks in this sector have been costly but they are extremely sensitive in this area regarding the Yenlo gateway to the Ruhr.

‘PROGRESSING SATISFACTORILY’

< ’ P LONDON, November 1. Two hundred sea craft participated in the Walcheren landings, both ot which are reported to be progressing successfully, says SHAEF. The Westkapelle landing was the bigger of the two, and the opposition the stiffest in 1 British United Press correspondent says that Flushing was pretty well cleaned up by the late after,noon.

! (Rec. 1.35 p.m.) | LONDON, November 1. | Advancing one-and-a-half miles in , thick fog along a narrow front, north--1 east of Nancy, infantry entered Abaucourt and Letricourt, says Reuters correspondent. Activity elsewhere on this front was confined io artillery and fire patrols. ; x An American officer stated that the Siegfried Line pillboxes were tough nuts to crack even after capture. One had reinforced concrete walls six feet thick. The Americans wanted to be 1 sure the Germans would never again use it, so stacked 3001bs of T.N.T. inside sealed ventilators, and exploded the charge. The walls cracked but remained standing and the roof was intact. It took another 3001bs to finish the job. LANDINGS IN NORWAY ? LONDON, Nov. 1. “The Germans are expecting Allied landings on the coast of northern Norway,” says the “Daily Express” correspondent in Stockholm. “German deserters who have Reached Sweden in the- last 24 hours, report that the Germans are rushing ahead their an-ti-invasion preparations. These men say that the German High Command is convinced that the present weather and tide conditions favour an early Allied attempt to invade Norway. Landings are expected to take place at Narvik and on the coast north of the port. Reports from Norwegian underground sources say that a state of alert exists all along the northwestern coast of Norway. The Germans believe that the threat of invasion has increased considerably since the latest attack on the battleship Tirpitz, which was reported tohave been hit with a 12,0001 b. bomb.” Other Stockholm reports say that the Germans are strengthening the coastal defences in north-western Germany against a possible Allied landing. Thousands of members of the German Labour Corps and the Hitler Youth organisation have been sent to the Bav of Heligoland to build the “Frisian Wall.” This wall is believed to be intended to cut off any Allied attempt to sweep across north-wes-tern Germany towards Berlin. The diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says: “Following General Eisenhower’s recent warning that an intensified attack against the shipping along the Norwegian coast was about to begin, Norwegian seamen are refusing to sail in ships under German orders. The master and crew of a ship loading at Oslo for Germany yesterday refused to accept sailing orders and went ashore.”

The Paris radio. Quoting a Stockholm dispatch, said that no shins had left Norwegian harbours in the last few days. The Gestapo and S.S. troons had made numerous arrests and taken hostages.