LUXEMBURG CITY

Grey River Argus, 12 September 1944, Page 5

LUXEMBURG CITY

IN AMERICAN HANDS ALLIES NEARER GERMANY Stiff Canal Battles in Belgium BRITISH GET ARMOUR ACROSS AMERICANS TAKE HASSELT SEVENTH ARMY CLOSING ON BELFORT GAP [Aus. & N.Z. Press Assn.l LONDON, Sept. 10. . American First Army forces have pushed into Luxembourg. The “Daily Telegraph” states that outposts of the Siegfried Line are now within range of Allied field artillery. The Americans i.n Luxembourg threaten the southern flank protection of Aachen. A S.H.A.E.F. correspondent says: The location of the American crossing of the Luxembourg border is no yet revealed, but on a wide front north-west from Luxembourg we are progressing in strength along the River Ourthe in the vicinity of Marche, and east of St. Hubert we have made advances. Further south, American elements pushing on from Pompey just north of Nancy, reached the village of Libedun.

THIRD U.S.A. ARMY.

AMERICANS IN VERVIERS. (Rec. 7.10) LONDON, Sept. 10. The United States First Army has captured Venders, east of Liege, near the German border town of Limburg. A Brussels radio report said: Armoured spearheads of the American First Army sweeping eastward from Liege through the railway town of Limburg, are now eight miles from the German frontier town of Aachen, which is a key point of the Siegfried Line. . , According to the Paris radio forces crossed the Luxemburg frontier a. a second point. The radio also declared that an attack against theSiegfried Line is expected shortly Another report states: The United States First Army, has pushed into Luxemburg. The German Overseas News Agency Stated that the Allies launched a major operation on a 60 miles front between Verviers and Arion, ana added: The Americans using massed tanks gained some ground.

Luxemburg Freed AMERICAN ADVANCES TO NEUFCHATEAU AND REMICOURT. (Rec. 12.55) LONDON, Sept. 11. Monday’s S.H.A.E.F. communique states: the city of Luxemburg has been liberated by Allied forces advancing towards the Moselle River. Ou?- troops, north-west of Nancy, are in the northern part of Liverdun (seven miles north-west of Nancy). Further north in the Ardennes Forest, we are at Neufchateau. Our units are along the Ourthe River in the area east of Marche, and elements have moved east of Saint Hubert. Cur troops, south-east of Liege, are in the vicinity of Theux. Here the enemy resistance has increased in the area immediately to the south-east. “Allied forces north-west of Liege have occupied ’R-emieourt, and have reached Hex, which is seven miles south-east of Saint Rond. AMERICAN GAINS ON WIDE FRONT (Rec. 1.0) LONDON, Sept. 11. A report from S.H.A.E.F. states: Apart from the obvious significance of Luxemburg being the third European capital to be liberated by Allied forces, a much more disturbing fact, from the Germans’ viewpoint, is the development of .a threat, not only from Luxemburg, but on a wide front from the Ardennes. Luxemburg is only ten miles from the German frontier, and other columns from General Hodge’s First United States Army have threatened to cross the Luxemburg frontier in a number of places. Heavy fighting is occurring at Mersch, ten miles north of Luxemburg. There the Germans are increasing their resistance. Generally, however, in the area of the Ardennes, Allied forces continue to make gains. The Allies are contacting the Germans throughout 320 miles of front from Bruges to Nancy. AMERICANS PLAY HAVOC WITH LONG GERMAN COLUMN. (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 11. A Reuter correspondent say|s: American “Long Toms” on Sundaj' night poured 155-millimefre shells into Germany from American lines, less than eleven miles from the German border. The American correspondent adds: American reconnaissance planes of the Armoured Division have already landed on German soil. The German forces are retreating to the border, and are mining roads and placing trees across the highways.' ■ American planes and artillery, near the German border, on Sunday afternoon pounded a ten-mile-long German column of enemy tanks and trucks trying to escape into Germany. There is a huge cloud of smoke now rising from the column. American tanks and infantry are waiting to pounce on the remains of the German force. Albert Canal Battles BRITISH SECOND ARMY OPERATIONS ON ALBERT CANAL. HITLER YOUTHS PROVE TOUGH OBSTACLE. LONDON, Sept. 10. A Reuter correspondent on Sunday reported: There is a violent battle raging before the frontier of Holland. ’ Famous English infantry pnd armoured format’ons are battling violently against fanatical Nazi youths aged 17 to 18 years. The Hitler youths are trying to seal. off the two British bridgeheads across the Albert Canal. They nearly succeeded at Beeringen yesterday when picked “do or die” German infantry, with support weapons, tried to re-take one of our bridges. They di> not succeed because they encountered .an armoured echelon which destroyed 33 lorries packed with ammunition, food and water. The tanks’ artillery blew the German forces to p'eces. It is doubtful if one of the German raiders regained his own lines. .We have now en-

larged and consolidated both bridgeheads. Fighting is progressing on the outskirts of Gheel, after an advance of 1200 yards in two hours. The British northern bridgehead over Albert Canal is 5000 yards deep. The British dominate the village of Hechtel, after fierce fighting lasting a day and a half, but have not yet capturdd the villagel, which still contains Germans. Similarly we have not yet captured Bourg Leopold though British tanks and infantry to-day were sealing off its ea't and south sides. The Germans are continuously trying to find a weak link in the perimeter of our bridgehead They actually tried to push through a few tanks between Hechtel and Helcheterem. The attempt failed after considerable losses on both sides. A young English captarn said: “They failed with repeated determined efforts to flatten our bridgeheads. We are killing a lot of Germans and have made a small advance. We are maintainng the pressure and wearing them down. The establishment of the initial bridgehead at Gheel was a tricky operation performed speedily during the nffiht when two assault boats got across the canal. The Germans re-acted quickly, but four hours after the first assault British troops were driving north from the far bank and sappers had a bridge over the canal. ~ x , A British staff officer said to-day: “I do not think very rapid progress can be expected hereabouts, until the Germans are given another good licking. They will continue fighting until we break them up.” An intelligence officer attached to another British headquarters, which had been moving forward in 50-mile jumps, commented: “It is extraordinary—we have been 48 hours in the same place.” The British have so far met very little German armour, but the country is ideal for infantry defence, full of hedges, woods and ditches, giving anti-tank and mortar crews and machine-guns plenty of cover. Our armour at present, has little chance to deploy and is really more useful in a supporting role. It .is a sobering realisation that the war is not yet over to find that after ten days of racing through intact villages and cheering crowds that the gains are now again counted in yards and aga’n at the cost of blood and effort and that they mean piles of rubble. The British Second Army in Belgium has taken 12,000 prisoners in three days. The total number of prisoners' captured by the Second Armv is now 25,000. Major-General Heirriche, Commander of the 85th German infantry division was killed when trying to rush a roadblock north of Liege. LATER. Germans are .now using tanks north of Albert Canal.

AMERICANS TAKE HASSELT LONDON, Sept. 10. Reuter’s correspondent with the American First Army says: General Hodge’s troops have captured. Hasselt, 16 miles from the nearest point of Holland, and 25 miles from the German frontier. The Germans blew up the bridges just before the Americans reached the Canal. American armour cut retreat roads north and south of Hasselt and has left the Germans only one way to the canal. The Germans, after a fleeting rearguard action, began shelling the section of Hasselt nearest the canal. Hasselt is a vital road hub. The United States First Army is now standing on the southern bank of the Albert Canal. These Americans are closely co-operating with the British farther north of the canal in the vicinity ..of Ghent, Beeringen and Halchteren.. British Forces SECURE GHENT AND OSTEND COAST (Rec. 12.55) LONDON, Sept. 12 Monday’s S.H.A.E.F. correspondent says: Stiff German opposition continues in our Albert Canal bridgehead. The enemy resistance at Ghent has been overcome. Our troops are in possession of the town. We have cleared enemy forces from Ostend and Nieuport and the coast between Ostend and Furnes is in our hands. His Majesty’s ships Warspite and Erebus on Sunday suojected the defences of Le Havre to a heavy bombardment in support of our ground operations there. . A report from S.H.A.E.F. stated: The enemy, though resisting in tne area of Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges, is- not expected voluntarily to prolong 'his effort on his seventy miles front longer than is necessary to get out what troops and equipment ne can. It will be more economical m manpower for him to anchor his front near Antwerp, and along tne line of the Albert Canal. With tne clearance of the enemy front of Ghent, it seems that the Germans are falling back in an intermediate line of the Leopolo Canal, north and east of Bruges. This will leave him a small corner in north-west Belgium from which to evacuate to Flushing across the Schelde River. A Reuter and Belgium correspondent sayst The British Second Army advanced nine miles from the Beeringen bridgehead and our armour, in a twilight rush, captured intact a vital bridge at the Degroote barrier, on the Escaut Canal, only one and a half miles from the Dutch frontier. Our armour has got across the canal. LE HAVRE BLITZED (Rec. 1.3) LONDON, Sept. 11. A S.H.A.E.F. communique on Monday states: An attack against the garrison and fortified positions cf Le Havre was continued on Sunday morning, afternoon and evening by heavy bombers. Visibility was excellent. The bombing was highly concentrated.’ SIEGE OF BREST (Rec. 12 55) LONDON, Sept. 11. Monday’s S.H.A.E.F. communique says: House to house fighting is progressing in outskirts of Brest. The German commander at Lochrist surrendered, but isolated enemy groups continue to resist in this area. Resistanc also continues on the Crozon Peninsula, forming part of the southern shore by Brest. GERMAN STAND IN NORTH BELGIUM LONDON, Sept. 10. A S.H.A.E.F. report states: The Germans have moved troops from Denmark to oppose the British 2nd Army. The German resistance in north Belgium between Ghent and Antwerp is faii’ly strong. Fighting is still going on in the city of Ghent. A force of the Germans still hold out in the north of Ghent, in spite cf the fact tnat ‘ Allied forces are several miles north of that town. A fairly strong force of Germans attempted to break from the Channel coast and disrupt the Allied headquarters. The attack began on Friday evening and continued until next morning. An enemy formation thrust into the Allied positions between Lille and Ghent, on -the main roads between the two towns. They probably converged on Allied lines from the reg ons of Dunkirk, Nieuport and Ostend. At the northern end of the Channel pocket the enemy is trying to form a line on the Bruges-Ghent

Canal, where fighting has been particularly heavy. 1 , A S.H.A.E.F. correspondent says.| The Germansi are making every e; " fort to retain' a small area left them near Bruges. The work of enlarg-; ing the bridgehead over the canal south of Bruges is proceeding slowly and surely. There is a general increase in resistance as the western forces press toward? the German , frontiers. , I Correspondents reporting that the . Germans are bringing troops from as far as Denmark to stiffen their defences along the Albert Canal, stated that more than 30. trainloads. of reinforcements were spotted in one day.

BELGIANS ON THE SCHELDE BLOCK ENEMY RETREAT. LONDON, Sept. 10. Belgian patriot troops are fighting on the northern hank of the Schelde, north-west of Antwerp, and are denying the narrowest of the (grossings of the river to the enemy, who is still trying to evacuate troops across the river mouth. The 1600 prisoners who passed through one cage yesterday, included representatives of 46 different units. Allied planes carried out the biggest slaughter for a considerable time against German troops attempting to escape northward in the mouth of the Schelde and caused the greatest havoc along the Wemeldinge Canal—the route to Rotterdam. Figures for the day’s destruction include 105 barges destroyed or damaged, in addition to many locomotives and motor vehicles destroyed or damaged. GERMANS LEAVING FLANDERS The German withdrawal operations in Flanders continue with Allied units pressing the Germans hard, stated the Berlin radio to-night. German rearguards south-west of Bruges have screened the retreat of the main body of the Germans. German units in the Liege area are involved in bitter battles against far superior Allied forces. ALLIES NOT IN HOLLAND DUTCH COMMANDER’S STATEMENT. LONDON, Sept. 10. Prince Bernhard expressed concern over what he termed “the most upsetting” premature reports that Allied troops had .already entered Holland. He said: “It is the greatest shame, indeed, that those reports were put out. They have caused much trouble. I hear, from reliable sources, that people have been shoij in Holland for hanging out flags when they heard the reports.” He added that he himself, on the strength of the first report of British sighting Holland, rushed from England to France, expecting to go straight into Holland. Prince 'Bernhard, according to the Associated Press, crossed the Albert Canal on Sunday and visited Dutch troops fighting alongside the British within 12 miles of Holland.

ALLIED AIR ATTACKS IN HOLLAND. (Rec. 1.10) LONDON. Sept. 11. • A S.H.A.E.F. communique on Monday stated: Our fighters and fighterbombers supported the ground forces on Sunday and attacked locomotives and motor transport in the Low Countries, barges in Holland, and .an airfield at Leeuwarden. Other planes I attacked enemy shipping in the North Sea between the Hook of Holland and Ameland. Light bombers during the night attacked motor transport, a bridge and a train in Holland, and small surface vessels near Flushing. R.A.F. Mosquito bombers on Sunday night attacked Berlin. l MOSELLE. BATTLE. ENEMY’S STAND. LONDON, Sept. 10. After running for nearly four hundred miles, the Germans have turned at last, says the British United Press correspondent across the Moselle, today. He adds: .They are clinging to everq hold on 'the east; side of the Moselle. Our big guns are booming in the hills aioye Toul, while infantry in the woods and foxholes are waiting for concealed Germans to be blasted out into the open. Fighting has been really tough since we crossed the Moselle three days ago.. MAGINOT FORT. TAKEN BY AMERICANS. LONDON, Sept. 10. General Patton’s Third United States Army, after three days’ attack captured the first Maginot Line for;, near Nancy to which it opens a road and secures the Allied bridgehead at Toul and gives the Americans commanding positions along a wide stretch of the Moselle.

Describing the capture, a Reuter correspondent says: The fort is located at the top of a hill from which Nancy is clearly, visible. The Americans, this morning, fought up the steen slopes and blasted the Germans from the forward trenches, then closed in tossing hand grenades through slits in the thick stone walls. The Germans soon began to withdraw, the fort being in American hands by the mid-afternoon. Patrols searched the subterranean passages for mines and booby traps.

Corridor to Belfort

NARROWED BY SEVENTH ARMY. LONDON, Sept. 10. The Seventh Army made further substantial advances against stiff resistance northward towards Dijon and north-eastward of the Doubs River Valley, reports an Allied communique. The French pushed some kilometres northwards after the capture of Beaune. The Americans in a drive up the Doubs Valley to the German frontier cleared the villages of Biaume les Dames and Cerva!. French elements have reached Pont de Riode and St. Hypholite. Briancon has been again cleared of the enemy. We have taken about 7000 prisoners since the start of the southern France campaign. "The remnants of the German Army, with orders from Hitler to reach the Siegfried Line at all costs are making. desperate efforts to get through the Belfort pap,” says a correspondent. “It is a race with the Germans harassed on one flank by French colon’al troops and on the other by United States armour and infantry flanked by the French. This may develop into a first-class battle at any moment. Other German forces from central France, 50,000 to 60,000 strong, and more or less in disorder, are stated to be trying to reach the frontier between Orleans and Chalon-sur-Saone. “Allied forward elements have penetrated the Foret de Chaux, 20 miles from Besancon, . between the Rivers Doubs and Done. The French operat'hg between the Americans and the Swiss border have occupied Pont.arlier and, pushing north, have reached a point 17 miles east-south-east of Besancon. The French operating on the west flank battered

through strong opposition beyond . Ch of° the 70,000 prisoners taken in 'southern France 40,000 were credited to the French, as the result of the capture of Toulon and Marseilles. I T'he battle for Belfort Gap is now ' progressing says a Rome correspondent. American and French troops aTe running into increasing resistance, but are making good progress toward Dijon and Belfort itself. Stubborn fighting is reported in the vicI inity of Nuits St. Georges, a famous vintage town 13 miles from Dijon. Autun, 40 miles south-west of Dijon has been occupied. Pontderiode which the French occupied is only nine miles almost due south of Belfort. ALLIES 15 MILES FROM BELFORT LONDON, Sept. 10 French troops of the Seventh Army are 15 miles from Belfort Gap. a passage into Germany. The Germans say five Allied divisions are prepared to attack the Gap. The French left flank is nine miles from Dijon. Other French forces are advancing parallel with them. American who are heading for the Gap, are skirting the Swiss border and engaging in heavy fighting in the Blamont area. They are about 15 miles due south of the Belfort Gap across which an Allied barrier is swinging as German resistance weakens. In the Donbas Valley the German resistance is stif? fening before an increasing threat of a junction of General Patch's and General Patton’s forces. APPROACH TO BELFORT ADVANCES ON 100-MILE FRONT. (Rec. 12.20) LONDON', Sept. 11. Monday’s Allied communique states: Seventh Army forces have further narrowed the enemy escape corridor in eastern France by scoring important northward advances over a front of approximately 100 miles. French forward elements have driven forward to the outskirts of Dijon against weakening resistance, and further west have reached the vicinity of Saulieu.. Americans have made a wide advance northward of the Doubs River to roughly the parallel line of the Ctnon River, liberating a substantial additional area. French forces south of 'Belfort, ■between the Doubs R’iyer and the Swiss border are meeting stubborn opposition. An Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent at the Mediterranean headquarters says: While French forces advanced on Dijon, American forces switched their lines of .attack northward, and are sweeping through an area east of Dijon, where it is believed there are German forces concentrated. The Americans advanced eight miles from Dole, and reached Auxonne, overcoming stiff resistance. Another force, east of Besancon, struck northward from Baume Les Dames, and jumped 12 miles to Rougemont. French forces along the Swiss frontier are meeting with strong resistance in the region of St. Hippolyte, as they increase the threat to the Belfort Gap, which is east of Belfort itself.

The Luftwaffe

STAYING AT HOME. NO OPPOSITION TO ALLIES (Rec. 11.40) LONDON, Sept. 11. A British Associated Press correspondent at the Ninth U.S.A. Air Force headquarters in France says: Allied fighter pilots have been racing back and forth across the German frontier for the past week without meeting a sign of the vaunted Luftwaffe reserves, which are repored to have been held back for the defence of the homeland. As far as the Allied air forces are concerned, the final battle for Germany started days ago, when fighter-bomb-ers began penetrating the Reich in droves, and softening up the enemy .ahead of Allied ground forces. In these operations they met virtually no opposition in the air, and less anti-aircraft fire than in Normandy. Approximately one thousand Frenchbased American fighter-bombers, only two of which are missing, roamed at will over the German frontier during the week-end, shooting up trains, motor transport, troops and convoys. Targets hit included 19 westbound trains hauling supplies to the Siegfried Line. A second Tactical Air Force fighter wing, speeding across northern France for the Low Countries, are finding the rapidity of their advance greatly assisted by an even hastier retreat of the Luftwaffe. In many instances they are taking over airfields from which , the Luftwaffe was operating a few days ago, many of them practically intact.

GERMANS’ NEW PLANE. LONDON, Set. 10. The new German jet-propelled twin-engined plane shot down over the Albert Canal, yesterday, is stated to have a speed of 700 to 900 miles an hour, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Americans. An anti-air-craft battery got it with the second round. ALLIED AIR ATTACKS. LONDON, Sept. 11. A Rome correspondent stated: On Sunday Allied planes bombed the Labau and Nove Schwechat oil refineries, seven miles south-west of Vienna. Intense flak was encountered, but no enemy aircraft. Liberators attacked Trieste Harbour. Mustangs strafed an airfield in Hungary, destroying, several grounded aircraft. Mitchells bombed troops and supplies and the town of Martsca, 35 miles north-east of Pisa in the Gothic Line. Bridges, railway targets and an ammunition factory hear Spezia. were attacked. In the Moselle area Allied planes bombed 15 trainloads of Germans moving to the Toul area, and destroved 15 coaches and damaged others. In Belgium ten German trains east of the Allied forces were bombed on Sunday. Mosquitoes at night attacked four trains, one near Deventer in Eastern Holland and three in the Metz area. After an attack on an ammunition train east of Metz the wagons blew up at intervals and Mosquitoes could feel the explosions at 3000 feet. On Sunday over 1100 U.S. Fortress and Liberator bombers attacked in the area' of Stuttgart, Ulm and Nuremburg. There are twelve U.S. bombers and fifteen fighters missing. The anti-aircraft fire was intense at some points. Escorting fighters destroyed 119 enemy planes on the ground, as well as shooting down six German fighters._ On Sunday R.A.F. bombers attacked Munchen-Gladbach, a new traffic centre sbuth-west of the Ruhr, not far behind the German line. Reports show that in Allied raids on Sunday in south and west Germany 44 planes were destroyed on th e ground. 9 De Gaulle Government CLASH WITH F.F.I. REPORTED (Rec. 5.5) LONDON. Sept. 11 Signs of a clash between the Presi-

dent of the French Provisional Government, General de Gaulle, and French Forces in the interior are reported from Paris .in the London “Daily Mirror.” It says: General de Gaulle has given orders tending towards the dissolution of all commanding organisations of the F.F.I. and their general staffs. ' . In a strong protest against this attitude the National Military Committee one of the most important! resistance groups, says: “This decision contradicts all the prospects ot a democratic renovation of republi-j can institutions. “The Provisional Government has also decided to disperse men attached to some F.F.I. units. On this issue, the National Military Committee says: “Their dispersion will mean that France and the Allies will have lost many men who can play a use ful part in the last phases of | A statement issued by de Gaulle s Government, yesterday.formallytold the oeople of France that Marsnai Petain’s “French State’ and its laws, were abolished, and that France was to remain a republic.