HINGE HOLDS FIRM

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21551, 2 November 1944, Page 5

HINGE HOLDS FIRM

GERMAN RETREAT MOVING OVER MAAS ENEMY HALTED ON FLANK (10 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 1. According to a spokesman at General Dempsey's Second Army Headquarters only rearguards of the German 15th Army now remain south of the Maas River, says Reuter's correspondent. Reports state that the Germans west of Hertogenbosch are still holding firm. There is not yet any perceptible loosening of this enemy hinge position. The Germans evidently intend to hold this defence line until the withdrawal over the Maas is completed. The British United Press correspondent with the Second Army says that although the Germans are still hanging on north-west and north of Hertogenbosch where they have found a natural defence line the final stages of the enemy’s evacuation south of the Maas cannot long be delayed. German aggressive activity on the western flank of the Dutch salient where we have recaptured Liessel has now ceased. Fighting is dying down all round the Second Army’s salient in Holland.

A communique from Supreme Allied Headquarters reports that 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 continued to make good progress north-east of Oosterhout and reached the Maas River north of Kapelle, capturing Raamsdonk, Sprang and Waalwijk and arc in the outskirts of Waspik, four miles east of Raamsdonk. In south-east Holland, there have been heavy artillery exchanges. ■‘North of Baccarat, our troops entered St. Benoit, five miles east of Rambervillers against stubborn resistance. We freed the village of Les Poulieres. four miles east of Bruyeres."