SITUATION IMPROVING

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 December 1944, Page 5

SITUATION IMPROVING

WESTERN FRONT OPERATIONS

4 AERIAL ATTACKS CONTINUED

German Transport Losses Heavy

LONDON, December 27. | To-day’s communique from Allied ( Supreme Headquarters says: The; Allied forces in Holland have con-i tinned to encounter enemy patrols along the Maas River, north of Tilburg. South of Duren we cleared Winden against stiff opposition. The Monschau-Malmedy sector has been quiet except for a small unsuccessful enemy attack near Bullange, and our' positions there remain unchanged. North-west of Stavelot, we cleared up an enemy pocket near La Gleize, ana captured 150 prisoners, 28 tanks, 70 half-truck vehicles, eight armoured cars and six self-propelled guns. The enemy, in a strong attack south-west of Stavelot, captured Manhany. We later counter-attacked, and restored the situation, although the village of Manhany has remained in enemy hands. The enemy pressure continues heavy between Hotten and Marche, but our positions have been maintained. A few enemy tank troop carriers pushed forward in the dn ection of Celles. They were engaged by our forces, and driven back with the loss of some tanks. We have maintained a hold on Bastogne, despite heavy German pressure from all sides. Numerous enemy tanks have been destroyed in attempts to enter the town. South-west of Bastogne we advanced to the vicinity of Cobreville. Fighting continues just north of Chaumont. We have cleared the towns of Hollange and Tintage, seven and nine miles respectively south of Bastogne, and are fighting in the vicinity of Arsdorf. Fighting is progressing in Eschdori, where the enemy is offering a stubborn resistance with infantry and tanks, and also in Kehman. We have reached high ground west of Eppeldorf, and have repulsed an enemy counter-attack in the vicinity of Haller, six miles west of Echternach. We have taken Waldbilling, a mile and a-half south of Haller. Our troops made additional gains in a wooded area west of Wissemburg, but this sector has generally been inactive. In the southern high Vosges, we have repulsed an attempted enemy raid against Thann. GERMAN THRUST BLUNTED LONDON, December 27. Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Supreme Headquarters says:—The enemy thrust towards the Meuse was blunted by Allied troops who met a small German advance by armoured formations, and threw them back from Ciney. There is- no immediate threat of the Germans rushing up to the Meuse in strength an’d trying to burst across the river. We retook Celles after its capture by roaming German formations. The situation elsewhere in the Ardennes Bulge continues to reflect improved stabilised conditions. There have been no changes in the Malmedy-Stavelot area. There, Americans checked the Germans after the enemy had advanced for 2000 yards on a two-miles front. The northern flank of the bulge has resisted German pressure. Americans pushing from the south, continued to make small gams through rought country from a point south of Bastogne eastward to a point a few miles south-west of Echternach. The American garrison m Bastogne shows no signs of weakening. The nearest Americans advancing from the south are within five miles of the town. The situation elsewhere has not greatly changed. Large formations of transport ’planes on Tuesday chopped supplies Io American forces who are holding on in Bastogne. Medical personnel, including a surgeon, were also flown in by ’planes, which landed and took off under German fire. RIGHT FLANK"LINE HELD LONDON, December 27. To-day’s Allied communique, which gives the position in Belgium as it was some time ago, says that the Allied line containing the right flank of the German offensive continued to hold firmly. To the south of the German salient, the Americans made more gains in counter-attacks. Be tween Marche and Hotton (on the river Ourthe) the Germans kept up their pressure. A few German tanks approached the Meuse near Celles, which is four miles from the Meuse at Dinant, but they were driven back. A 8.8. C. correspondent says that German activity yesterday was restricted to probing and trying to find out the Allies’ strength. The Allied line on the north-west of the salient still includes Malmedy, Stavelot, and Hotton, but south of that there is a gap leading towards the Meuse. In the gap the Germans were not very active, confining themselves to moves by armoured reconnaissance groups. The Germans’ main traffic border, has been under constant air attack. Yesterday was the third day running of heavy Allied air attacks on German transport columns, troop concentrations, and fuel dumps. The United State War Department announces that more than 13,001) Germans have been captured since the offensive began. BASTOGNE DEFENDERS RUGBY, December 27. The position on the Western Front is unchanged according to the latest reports on the operations up to 3b hours ago, writes a correspondent at Supreme Headquarters. While we aie exerting every pressure in the soum to cover the five miles separating us from the Allied troops at Bastogne, the Germans are holding firmly to their positions and we made little progress. Our men have now been isolated at Bastogne for nearly a week and as the result of the fight they are putting up against pressure, the Geimans are being kept at bay. Outroops are being supplied by air. Then counter-attacks in the sector between Stavelot and Marche effected no change in the position for either side. In the Stavelot-Malmedy area, die enemy has been less aggressive. Enemy armoured forces which pushed a mile or two south after making a wav towards the Meuse were obliged to abandon 17 tanks and sei I-pro-pelled guns for lack of petrol. At least a dozen of them were in the immediate vicinity of Celles. Attacking in the area between Miekirch and Echternach, Allied troops gained some ground in wooded territory here and took all objectives. United States troop-carrier forces planes, to-day, dropped hundreds of tons of supplies to the isolated American units cut off near Bastogne by the German drive into Belgium, states the headquarters of the First Allied Air-borne Army of the United States Troop-carrier Forces. Parachute supplies consisting mostly of ammunition were flown despite groun fog and low hanging clouds, which covered most of the Continent, this morning. The aerial supply operation opened with landing paratroopers to direct the troops’ carrier planes to supply points. An hour later another plane released a second parachute pathfinder to land in the area to ensure accurate direction of the oncoming supply planes. This afternoon Lancasters of the R.A.F. Bomber Command, escorted by

Spitfires made a concentrated attack on the railway centre of Rheydt.

GERMAN ARMOUR LOSSES

LONDON, December 27. American Air Force fighter-bomb-ers have destroyed more than half of the tanks, armoured vehicles and transport with which the Germans launched their offensive. An area of 1500 square miles behind Marshal von Runstedt’s forces is littered with burnt-out hulks of armour, the area rapidly taking on a graveyard aspect, like that of Normandy prior to the race to the German borders. Preponderant American air power has changed many aspects of the German drive. In spite of there being still a delicate ground situation, there is terrific optimism prevalent among the U.S. Air Force officers. BRITISH ASSISTANCE.

LONDON, Dec. 27. The German High Command radio stated that British Second Army troops had taken over part of the left flank of the American first Army. AMERICAN CASUALTIES. NEW YORK, December 27. The “Herald-Tribune’s” Washington correspondent says: The nun ?" ber of Americans taken prisoner m the present German drive has not been disclosed, but the officials do not attempt to deny that the figure is large. The Americans suffered. 55 775 casualties during November. The December casualties are expected to be higher.

“NOT WORSENING”

OFFICIAL RE-ASSURANCES

(Rec. 10.50 a.m.) , „ LONDON, December 27. The situation on the Western Front is not worsening, says Reuters correspondent. Von Rundstedt, howevei, is believed to be preparing lor a more concentrated and concerted Ptfort, directed against Dinant. the Allies are now heavily engaging Gelman armour. , An American broadcaster on tne Western Front said: “While the situation is still fluid in the area, the enemy’s penetration in his coiiidqi is being narrowed down and the Germans are becoming more reluctant to send heavy armour too far westward. More and more of their vehicles are being found abandoned, with petrol tanks empty. Seventeen tanks, captured, late yesterday, from an advanced German spearhead, had run out of petrol and had been abandoned. Premier Pierlot told the Belgian Chamber of Deputies: “At noon today, I received from high Allied authorities a formal assurance that the situation was well in hand, that, the enemy’s advance had been contained and that the enemy were being successfully counter-attacked from the north and the south. There is no reason for anxiety. I' was authorised to tell you this.” . A military spokesman m Washington said: “The German counter-of-fensive has apparently been temporarily halted, giving the Allies time to establish a strong defensive line. He added: “If flying weather continues, the advanced German elements. will soon, be completely immobilised.”

The British United Press correspondent at SHAEF says: “Americans fought their way into Celles several times, before finally recapturing the town. The Germans never entered Ciney and they are now at least a mile or two south of the town at the closest point. Thee Germans now hold excellent defensive positions in the hills of Luxembourg.” BASTOGNERELIEVED (Recd. 1.25 p.m.)~LONDON, Dec. 27. Bastogne, which has been isolated for nearly a week, has been relieved, stated the Brussels radio, announcing that Allied columns have linked up with the garrison. Luxemburg radio said that Allied forces breaking in from the south, relieved Bastogne and drove a wedge into the German salient. “The German supply corridor through Belgium, narrowed to less than twenty miles, is threatened by. an American wedge which is driven in deeply.’ The Associated Press correspondent on the Stavelot sector says, Rundstedt in the past twenty-four hours , suffered a serious set-back. The thirtysix hours’ limitation for release ol news prevents details but the Americans have driven a deep salient into the German bulge in one sector. Air Forces, with the weather cleared, have been cutting at German tank transport and pounding German positions. RUNSTEDT’S LOST INITIATIVE (Rec. 1.10 p.m.) LONDON, December 27. A correspondent says it is apparent that with Thunderbolts searching the roads, Rundstedt is unable to operate tank spearheads on a big scale without risking massacre in bitter cold grips. The front roads are frozen. The British United Press correspondent at the 21st Army Group Headquarters .says, Runstedt appears to be beginning to call off the efforts to reach the Meuse. Considerably fewer enemy vehicles were seen on the roads in this part of the front, to-day. Reuter’s correspondent on the Western Front says: The nearest German position to the Meuse in strength is at least 12 miles away. Such patrols as come forward have been cut up. Rundstedt knows now that with our defences organised, he has no chance of seizing the Meuse crossing with an armoured patrol. He must do the job properly with a set piece if his hopes are to succeed. The Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent on the Western Front says: Rundstedt and his two panzer armies have lost the first round in the attempt to push to the Meuse in the past 12 days, and with the failure, Rundstedt has also ceded the initiative which he gained with the surprise weight of his first thrusts. However, the initiative has not yet passed to the Allied armies. The initiative at present is in no man’s land. The result of the next great battle will probably decide whether the Allied armies will win back this more important weapon which they held from D Day until the start of Rundstedt’s push. Reuter’s correspondent with the Second Tactical Air Force says the total number, of the day’s sorties tonight is approaching the 2000 mark. AIRMEN’S HEAVY TOLL (Recd. 11 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 27. In another day of most intense activity, Allied Tactical Air Forces flying nearly two thousand sorties, yesterday, destroyed and damaged hundreds of enemy transport, armoured vehicles, and railway trucks, state j correspondents on the Western Front. | Claims include sixty-two armoured fighting vehicles destroyed, seventynine damaged, half of which were estimated to be tanks, 560 transport

vehicles destroyed and 297 damaged, and ninety railway wagons destroyed for the loss of twenty-eight planes. An R.A.F, spokesman said the claims of enemy transport destroyed were not “witin a mile of the actual total,” because they did not include the destruction inflicted by heavy bombs and medium bombers. The Luf-twaffe did not appear in. strength and flew about three hundred sorties. Seventy-one enemy planes were destroyed during the day. Since Rundstedt opened the offensive on December 16, the Germans have lost in air attacks 2,228 transport vehicles destroyed, 1,054 damaged and 439 planes destroyed and 121 damaged. CORRESPONDENT KILLED. (Rec. 10.55 a.m.) « LONDON, December 27. The Combined United Press and British United Press correspondent a 30-year-old American, Jack Frankish was killed on the First Army front on December 23. He had served continuously on the Western Front since D Day.

U.S.A. PRESS REVIEW.

“SITUATION GRAVER”

NEW YORK, December 26. “The situation in Belgium has grown progressively graver in the last 48 hours and German panzer units on Tuesday, the tenth day of the offensive, were within four miles ot the Meuse,” says the Ne -w York Times” correspondent, Drew Middleton “The Germans may have"been forced to alter their original plans because of the Allied defence oi lour key areas and the great weight Qi oui aerial attack, but the enemy advance is again picking up momentum ana is now striking for the Meuse crossings* A ‘qualified military expert’ supplied by Headquarters, claimed that the situation was being stabilised and was in fact now ‘in hand.’ This description is incompatible with the German advance towards the Meuse, even granted that-the original enemy plan for a number of reasons has gone wrong. “The ‘expert,’ however, was willing to grant that the enemy would make further progress, and he stressed the alteration in German plans. But this cannot be considered a definite indication that the Allies control the situation or have it in hand. If the Germans are prevented from reaching the Meuse at Liege and breaking into the area behind the American positions on the Roer there is no cause for optimism, since the enemy has undoubtedly relieved the pressure both from the Roer River and Saar fronts. The enemy paused on Saturday and Sunday, but has since resumed the offensive, making considerable progress. The fact that the enemy was able to pause, take a heavy aerial pounding, and then make further gains of 10 to 12 miles, indicates not only the strength of his offensive, but also the confidence of the German commander. i . “The alteration in German plans, to swing the main weight of the offensive from the direction of Liege to Namur, was forced on the Germans, first, by American resistance on the northern flank; second, by the failure of the Germans to extend the southern flank, due partly to the gallant American defence of Bastogne; third, to the sudden resumption of air attacks, complicating the enemy supply system and causing serious losses to his armoured spearheads and supporting columns; and fourth, by the failure of the German air-borne troops to cut road communications in the first two days of the operations. THE MAIN QUESTION. “However, the main question, which has not yet been answered satisfactorily, is why the Allies were so badly surprised by the offensive. One is told that it is impossible for an army to think defensively while operating offensively, or vice versa, but the Germans have apparently managed to do this, 'rhe weather before the attack certainly covered the concentration ol the German armies, which were probably moved up during the long nights of late November and early December. However, this is not quite a complete excuse. Aerial observation is not the only Allied method of learning enemy plans. One wonders whether or not there was other information, which was either disbelieved or discarded. Many questions remain unanswered. “Meanwhile, the most optimistic side of the picture is being presented to the public. Officers who should know better talk of rounding up and destroying Germans as if the Ardennes were a flat plain and the Wehrmacht leaderless cattle. There is still opportunity for a decisive battle with the strong German force left to cover its defences, but the enemy advance must first be halted.” Middleton concludes: “These are grim days.” The “New York Times,” in a leading article, says: “The climactic phase of the battle apparently will be fought along the Meuse. If the Germans break through on the Meuse as they did in 1914 and 1940, the consequences would be beyond present calculations. It would mean at least the indefinite prolongation of the war and a far more thorough mobilisation of American manpower and resources than anything hitherto contemplated. However, the enemy offensive is still far from a decisive break-through. Its momentum has apparently slowed down and its flanks are under severe attack.

“So far the Germans have failed to reach a single really vital Allied communications centre,” says the “New York Herald-Tribune” in a leading article. “Even if the Germans could recapture half of France, their dream of driving us out of the war would be idle fantasy.”

CHANNEL PORTS

NEW YORK, December 27

The correspondent of the Associat-1 ed Press at Washington says: “Mili- ■ tary officials here express the opin-; ion that the German counter-offen-sive is aimed at the Channel, ports, I and probably at Antwerp, rather than j at Paris. They say that an enemy. success would snap the Allied supply lines from the coast and would I throw a huge noose around the Al- ■ lies’ armies, in the northern sector of] the front. BELGIANS SLAUGHTERED LONDON, December 27. | A Reuter correspondent with thei American Ist Army says: Imprisoned] German S.S. troops admitted the slaughter of twenty-three Belgian men,- women and children in a small village near Stavelot, because they got in the way of the offensive and because “officers were irritated 'by crying children.” The prisoners confessing the crime, said they had been ordered to kill civilians with clubs to conserve ammunition. However, they found this too inhuman, so they killed them with machine-guns. A German officer, who ordered the shooting, was wounded and died in an American hospital. SHOOTING OF PRISONERS (Rec. 11 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 27. The story of Germans shooting American prisoners has been told by an American Sergeant named Colella, an Associated Press correspondent with the American troops on the Siegfried Line. Sergeant Colella said that he. with 30 American Medical Corps personnel, who, when caught in battle for a small town hid in a church. “We could hear a German tank commander stopping our trucks and jeeps and ordering the drivers and others out. Then we could hear shots. We next morning saw the bodies of our men lying where they had been killed.”

PRODUCTION NEEDS NEW YORK, December 26. The War Production Board Chairman, Mr Krug, addressing a Press conference, in Philadelphia, said that American war production had been affected by over-optimistic statements by “wise boys in Washington.”. He added: “The War Production Board is now operating on the theory that the war in Europe will go on indefinitely. Factories costing two hundred million dollars, for the construction of trench mortars, will be built, although they will not be in production until next August. If the war was then finished this money would be lost, but it probably won’t.” Mr Krug said that General Eisenhower has sent the War Production Board a message asking for six million yards of blanket material. Jackets and underwear ordinarily lasting four months were now being worn out in half of that time under the rigours of the present struggle. Mr Krug also said that the aircraft programmme had been increased by ’four or five per cent, last week, and that a. new increase in Navy fighter ’planes production was coming also There would be a three million tons expansion of their merchant shipping in ’1945.