GENERAL ADVANCE

Grey River Argus, 21 November 1944, Page 5

GENERAL ADVANCE

TOWARDS THE RHINE METZ ENCIRCLED Belfort Gap Penetrated AND SIEGFRIED DEFENCES MAAS RIVER CROSSED TOWNS TAKEN IN CENTRAL SECTOR. LONDON. November 20. A correspondent at Allied Supreme Headquarters on Sunday stated: General Eisenhower’s three northern armies battering against the forefield of the Ruhr defences are through the Siegfried Line at one point and across the German frontier along a 25-mile stretch. Villages on the Cologne Flain are falling one after another before the big offensive along a ragged front of only 12 miles from end to end. British and American forces which by-passed and isolated took Prummern and Hunshoven, east of Geilenkirchen. These forces are now fighting more than seven miles inside Germany, threatening the road junction of Linrich. American 9th Army forces are making progress south-east and east of Baseweiler, five miles south-east of Geilenkirchen, and are seven miles from Julich. Washing Hung ON SIEGFRIED LINE. (Rec. 12.10). LONDON, November 20. A British United Press, correspondent inside the Siegfried Line stated.-'-After Second Army troops crashed through the line north south of Geilenkirchen, British troops said: We said we would do it, and we have done it! British troops have hung up washing on the Siegfried Line —what is left of it!” , The correspondent adds: Some 01 our gunners were bivouacking in halfruined forts last night. They said: “We have been busy since we got here, but we will certainly find time to hang out washing. We have made a song about it for a few years. It gives you a victory feeling to be able to do it at last.” U.S. FIRST ARMY’S PROGRESS. ESCHWEILER ENTERED. LONDON, November 29. American Ist Army patrols have reached the suburbs of Eschweilei, after a four miles advance, crawling through barbed wire and across minefields. The Germans east of Aachen have laid a smoke screen two miles long across the front, possibly in order to cloak the withdrawal of vehicles and guns. An American correspondent with the American Ist Army points out that there has been no break-through farther south, although enemy resistance has softened under the weight of the heavy artillery fire, which at one stage was greater than the El Alamein barrage. The Germans have fought back strongly from behind prepared positions, and probably will be able to make an orderly withdrawal to the next line of defences along the Roer River. Ihe Americans advancing on the Roer River have established a bridgehead across an anti-tank ditch 25ft wide and eight miles long, which vvjas one of the main German positions west of the river.

First American Army troops continued the attack on Sunday, writes a front line correspondent. In one sector, in a breakfast hour push, in fine sunny weather, some units advanced to places nearly a' thousand yards in record-breaking time. They met only very light resistance. Air support covered the advancing troops from the start. This morning’s weather indicates that the enemy will get another big punch from the air to-day, Another town was- taken last night by the First Army, and three more were taken by the Ninth Army. Eschweiler, the population of which is forty thousand, stands on the strategic Aachen-Cologne highway, which is one of the motor roads that Hitler built, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Ist Army. Heavy lighting is going on south-east of Eschweiler, near the small village of Hamich, which changed hands several times. GERMAN ATTACKS INCREASE IN AACHEN AREA. ' (Rec. 9.20) LONDON. Nov. 20. Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Supreme Headquarters states: The Germans .are now mounting an increasing number of counter-attacks. They mainly are against the American First and Ninth Armies. The Americans are brushing the counterattacks aside. U.S. 9th. ARMY REACHES ROER RIVER. (Rec. 9.10). LONDON, November 20. Berlin radio admitted that the American 9th Army has reached the Roer River line, which runs through J'ulich and Duren. It is revealed that Geilenkirchen fell to the British-American force under General Dempsey’s command. United States 9th Army forces have overrun seven villages, and the spearheads of the United States Ist Army are less than four miles from the Roer River and eight miles from the communications centre of Duren. At 1 p.m. on Sunday: Allied troops were in Geilenkirchen cleaning up isolated pockets of resistance after dusk. Only about 300 of Geilenkirchen’s population of 20,000 remain there. British and Americans southeast of' Geilenkirchen are advancing across snowbound marshland against resistance which, without exaggeration, can be described as • fanatical. Marshal Montgomery’s spokesman said on Sunday: ‘‘The whole front is now ablaze. It has been a da'y of steady progress, but the Germans haven’t given up the idea of pushing us back. They are still putting in armour.”

Flail tanks led the way for spearheads entering Geilenkirchen, says Reuter’s correspondent. The Allies took prisoner only 30 inside the town, where the Germans showed little fight, but captured over 300 to the south-east, where the enemy launched a number of counter-at-tacks, bringing the total since the operation started yesterday morning to 1000. The total of Germans killed is probably higher. British tanks at one stage yesterday movpd right in among the German infantry, spraying machine-gun bullets in all directions. Flame-throwers also took toll. Allied troops encountered about 6000 civilians in the area north of Geilenkirchen, but the whole. Wurm Valley along which they, drove from the

frontier to Geilenkirchen, was entirely deserted. The Allies were right- in the heart of the Siegfried Line, but the guns in the emplacements are Allied, not German. METZ SECTOR. U.S. THIRD ARMY’S OPERATIONS. LONDON, November 20. In the area of Metz most of the fortress defences 1 have been eliminated, and there is left no decent escape road from the city. One of the forts unaccounted for is Fort Driant, where there was so much bitter fighting in the early stages. Since it was bypassed by our troops, no information has been received about it. Fighting is still going on at Metz and it should not be long before the city is ours. Rapid progress has also been made in the area east of Thionville. Our troops are now to the German border for some 15 miles from the junction with the Luxembourg frontier. The United States 7th Army forces captured Blamont and maintained progress all along the Vosges front for some distance to the south, and cleared up the area between Metz and the frontier. It is now, revealed that the Tenth Division is in action in this area. . Fighting is still going on in Metz and Ehre. According to one estimate, the Ehre garrison is of two or three thousand men. Another fort was captured but there are still six standing out. Bischedorf, 25 miles southwest of Metz, has fallen, and the troops pushed on to. Wirmingen. Eighteen hundred and twenty-six prisoners were taken during the 24 hour period to midnight last night. Metz is completely surrounded, says Reuter’s correspondent with the 3rd Army. The last highway out of the citv has been cut. General Patton’s tanks to-day made furthercrossings of the German frontier near Slaunstoff, 15 miles north-ea’st of Thionville. A general German withdrawal on the 3rd Army front continued all day. Fighter-bombers are inflicting heavy losses on , retreating columns which the pilots compared with the havoc wrought by, an avalanche. The British United Press correspondent- says that bitter street fighting is going on in Metz, which is ringed with smoke and fire. The Americans crossed the Moselle in assault boats and swarmed into the northern parts of the city. The Associated Press correspondent claims that the Americans had overrun about one-third of Metz by late this afternoon.

Reuter’s S'.H.A.E.F. correspondent reports that the American 3rd Army has bitten one and a-half miles deeper into Germany near the Luxembourg border, while the French have pushed on within four miles of the fortress of Belfort. The 3rd Army ha's captured Wochern, two miles north of Perl. The Americans are closing up to the frontier along a stretch of 15 miles in this area, with advances of as much as four miles at some noints. The whole . front north of'Metz is sweeping eastward against light opposition and advances of up to eight miles are frequent. The Associated Press correspondent with the 3rd Army, says the Germans are withdrawing eastward towards the Siegfried Line all along the 3rd Army front, leaving the Metz defences mostly to the Home Guard. The wholesale enemy retreat was first observed at noon yesterday, and reached its peak during the night. American planes immediately began attacking the German columns streaming towards Saa'rlautern, Saarbrucken,’ Saarguemines, and Homburg, with good results. A GERMAN RETREAT. (Rec. 9.30). LONDON. November 20. The Germans north-east of Metz are retreating behind Siegfried Line defences as General Patton gea'rs up the drive of -the U.S. Third Army. AMERICANS TAKE GERMAN TOWN. ANOTHER METZ FORT FALLS. (Rec. 9.45). LONDON, November 20. Reuter’s correspondent with the American 3rd Army says: General Fatton’s cavalry are fighting through the streets of S'cheurwald, a German border town, 16 miles north-east of Thionville. The American 26th Division is fighting in the outskirts of the town of Dieuze. Americans have captured Fort Belle Crois, in the north-eastern corner of Metz, and they are fighting for a railway station in the south-west part of the city. French Enter Belfort ADVANCE TO WITHIN 18 MILES OF THE RHINE LONDON, November 20. The large fortress town of Belfort, Southern France, is hourly being more seriously threatened by the rapid progress of the First French Army forces, but as yet there have been no reports of the fortress guns interfering with their progress, states a' correspondent at Supreme Headquarters. There are 17 fortresses of varying sizes most within the arc due east to due north of the city* FRENCH ADVANCE ON BELFORT. RAPID PENETRATION OF ALSACE. (Rec. 7.30) LONDON. Noy. 20 According to the Paris radio, the French Army’s penetration into Alsace has been extended for 9 miles. A British United Press correspondent with the. French First Army savs: French forces are now driving through the Belfort Gap. They are within 18 miles of the River Rhine. The Swiss radio states:; French tanks have outflanked the important fortified town of Belfort. They have also cut the Mulhouse railway. There is street fighting .going on in, Belfort. French Forces PLAYING BIG PART NOW. LONDON, November 20. General De Gaulle, speaking over the Faris radio, said:—French troops have taken, Montebehard Delle and stand at the gates of the Belfort Gap after the new offensive. The French First Army, supported exclusively by the French Air Force, has been attacking during the past three days on a front of over 60 miles, stretching from Dieuze to the Swiss border. The enemy is bending under our blows. We have already taken prisoner nearly. 10,000. " General De Gaulle said that other French forces were fighting with the Americans in Lorraine, and some were participating in the fighting at Metz. Several other French squadrons were co-operating with the R.A.F. over Germany and the Low Countries. The French Navy was coming into its own again sailing the seven seas.

General De Gaulle added: "In spite of the difficulties of arming, equipping and training fresh troops' from the people of France, great progress has already been achieved in organising new units. I promise that within eight months we will have in Europe a great army worthy of France. We are not only 'rebuilding our military might amidst fighting, we are also beginning to restore economic strength'under conditions which are

extremely difficult. We are restoring communications throughout the c °u' trv The first tram will cross me Loire on Tuesday, and the llr^J’ from the north were unloaded at Paris yesterday. The Seine River is again navigable from Le Havre t Montereau. There are daily difficuties, but it can be said we are well on the way to recovery.” FRENCH INTERNAL LOAN. (Rec. 10.30). FARIS, N0v..20 General De Gaulle announced that the French Government, in order to continue its great work of financial reconstruction, has decided to launch a Liberation Loan open to all Frenchmen. Latest News GAINS IN ALL SECTORS (R’3C. 12.52) LNDC'N, Nov. 20. To-day’s communique from Allied Supreme Headquarters says in the Venlo area, in south-eastern Holland, we have cleared the wooded area between Helden and Kessel. Our reconnaissance elements have breached the Maas River at Kessel. We have made further progress in our attacks in the GeilenkirchenAachen sector. We have contained several enemy counter-attacks in the vicinity of Prunmern. and have made gains east of Setterich, which has been cleared of enemy forces. Farther south we have captured Hongen, and also Kinzltveiler, two miles north-west of Eschweiler; also Saint Joris, two miles west of Eschweiler. Our patrols, advancing through wire entanglements and minefields, are in the southern outskirts of Eschweiler.

We have captured Hastenrath, two miles north-east of Stolberg, and have made substantial progress in this area.

North-east of Koenigsmacker we have reached Launstroff, five miles south-east, of Perl, .and half a mile from the German frontier, and have advanced across the border of Wellingen. Our forces, which have completed the encirclement of Metz, are on the eastern edge of the city, and units from the north and south have established contact east of the city. Our units have crossed the Seille River on the north-eastern edge of Metz. The Seille runs into the Moselle River at the north-eastern corner of Metz We have reached. Grosstanchen. 12 miles north of Dieuze. We have advanced several, miles against moderate resistance, in offensives north and south-east of Blamont. We have freed eleven more towns in this sector, including ißadonviller and Harbouey, two miles south-east of Blamont. In the Vosges Mountains, we have freed Gerardmer.

We have thrust through the Belfort Gan. reaching Sappois. which is within 20 miles of the River Rhine. Other Allied units have driven to within three miles of Belfort In the Dunkirk area or Saturday we firmly repulsed a sharp enemy attack on Mardick, three miles east of Dunkirk.

An Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent, say: Following the capture of Geilenkirchen, British and American forces continued to drive north-east against stiffening opposition Fighting is fl ere 1 r.or‘h _of Suggerath and Tripsath, two milts north-east and north respectively of Geilenkirchen, which are both in our hands. The enemy apparently . has brought in reinforcements. We took prisoner more than .a thousand h? the first 48 hours of the new British drive into the Reich. A Reuter correspondent says: The Geilenkirchen pocket has been completely eliminated. Although the Seigfried Line defences in this area are now useless to them, the Germans nevertheless are attempting to hold the Allied advance, and they have launched several small scale counter-attacks, which have _ failed to gain any ground. The Germans have collected all the odds and ends they are able to muster in a bid to stop the Allied advance in this sector, but there is nothing to indicate that our offensive is losing the momentum which carried it through the strongest Siegfried defences.

AMERICANS’ HEROISM BRITISH GENERALS’ TRIBUTE (Rec. 9.20) LONDON, Nov. 20. Lieut.-General O’Connor, the Commander of the British Army Corps, has issued a special order of the day, which is supported by a letter from General Dempsey, thanking a unit of the American Seventh Armoured Division for its heroic breaking of a counter-attack which the Germans on October 27 hurled against Meijel, with the object of cutting jiff the British thrust for Antwerp. The American Seventh Division had the task of covering the British right flank. The Division had fifteen miles to protect. Consequently Meijel Was lightly held by forty-three men and a' platoon of guns. Then 200 German infantrymen, supported by T'iger and Panther tanks, swooped on the town. The Americans flung back these superior forces for 24 hours until reinforcements arrived. S.H.A.E.F. correspondents say that unbelievable heroism was shown by every individual defender of Meijel in preventing the British right flank from being pierced from the rear. NEW AMERICAN BOMBERS IN ACTION. (Rec. 9.45). LONDON, November 20. A Reuter correspondent reports: The Americans’ newest and fastest bomber is called “The A 26 Invader”. It is in action over Germany. “Invaders” on Monday afternoon carried out their largest single attack so fa'r against Germans at Merzig, east of Metz. The Invader is a twin-engined bomber, combining heavy fire-power with a substantial bomb-load. An Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent at Allied Headquarters reports: Allied fighter-bombers on Sunday flew 3000 sorties in support of ground forces. They knocked out 46 locomotives, 270 trucks, and 300 railcars.