GENERAL ADVANCE

Grey River Argus, 24 November 1944, Page 5

GENERAL ADVANCE

INTO GERMANY RUHR NEARLY REACHED Roer and Maas Rivers Lined MORE GAINS IN THE SOUTH ENEMY IN THE VOSGES BEING CUT OF'F. I Aust. & N.Z. Press Association] (Rec. 1.5) LONDON, Nov. 23. Thursday’s communique from the Supreme Allied Headquarters says: Our advance continues in the Venlo sector. We have captured Maasbree and Amerika. « West of Roermond, we have advanced to the bank of the Maas River, opposite Roermond. Our forces in the Geilenkirchen sector are advancing towards the Roer River. They have captured Hoven, north-east of Geilenkirchen, and are now on high ground beyond Gereonsweiler. We are approaching Kislar, two miles west of Julich. We have cleared the enemy forces from Eschweiler and Durwiss. Fighting is progressing in Lohn, which is four miles north-east of Eschweiler. We are making slow gains in the Hurgegen Forest, fightng against intense small arms, mortar and' artillery fire. Our armoured forces north-east, of the Thionville area are advancing northwards beyond the German border in the area of Tunsdorf, five miles south-west of Mettlach. Metz has entirely been cleared of the enemy, but there are several of the outlying Metz forts which continue to' resist. We have made gainst north of Falkenberg. We have reached Rohrbach, Angweiler and Bisping, which are .all in an arc of six to eight miles east of Dieuze. Our forward elements are in the vicinity of Mettersheim, 11 miles north-east of Dieuze. Our units have driven into the lower Alsace Plain. These are within 20 miles of Strasbourg and the Rhine. . , . . , We have entered Saint Die, which has been burned by the enemy. We have made offensive gains east of the Meurthe River. There has been a strong enemy counter-attack in the Belfort Gap. It has been repulsed. We have cleared most of ißelfort city, and have also freed Mulhouse. Our fighter-bombers yesterday attacked road and railway transport in Colmar-Strasbourg area, but, generally, bad weather all day lons prevented any other air operations.

Aachen Sector ALLIED ADVANCE TOWARDS COLOGNE. 4 ' LONDON, Nov. 22. A nine-mile stretch of the great motor road from Aachen to Cologne to a point south of Durwiss, is now in the hands of the American First Army, states the British United Press correspondent, cabling from Eschweiler, from which the troops pushed on to Durwiss after the capture of Eschweiler. ' The German armies to-night, are falling back on the twin road hubs of Duren and Julich, the main gateways to Cologne, says Reuter’s correspondent. The Americans, hacking and slashing forward along the rainswept front, met their most serious resistance at Weisweiler, east of Eschweiler There the Germans threw in even their headquarters cc’---anies in a bid to hold open the corridor for the garrison withdrawing from Eschweiler. The centre of Duren has been reduced to rubble by gunfire and bombs. The heaviest fighting has been in the Aachen sector, where the battle still rages round Eschweiler. Troops of the 9th Army have taken another village north of Eschweiler. Near Geilenkirchen the 2nd Army is making slow but steady progress in the valley of the Wurm River, which runs into the River Roer, the last water barrier before the Rhine. A 8.8. C. reporter says that the Germans here have massed troops and armour in considerable strength. A "ood deal of heavy fighting is still to be expected round Geilenkirchen. The “Daily Express” correspondent at Eschweiler says this is a town where nearly everything has to be labelled “Don’t Touch,’’ and ’every road is dangerous. It is packed ”’ith mines and boobv-traps. An army chaplain has been blown up by a mine while attending our dying. Heavy close-quarter fighting is goino- on'to-night, inside the Siegfried Line east of Geilenkirchen, says Reuter’s correspondent with the British Second Army. For sheer primness of purpose on both sides it has had few narallels in this war. lhe heaviest German pressure has ’ around the little village of Beeck, three and a half miles north-east oi Geilenkirchen. Here the Germans counter-attacked with infantry and The Germans still hold Beeck to-nio-ht. Six tanks have been knocked out in this area to-day. • . Judging for their strategy m the past Tew days the Germans intend to convert Germany into one huge minefield. Every wood through which we fight is sown with explosives or every description. A German radio war reporter in a broadcast from the front line, stated that 1000 guns to-night opened up a barrage against the main German defence line on the Aachen front. “Concentrated forces of bombers, besides tanks in numbers beggaring description, attack us ceaselessly.” In drenching rain which spreads .along the whole front, British and American infantry and armour this morning continued the battle far thousands of concrete pillboxes which, with dragon’s teeth anti-tank barriers, form the principal defences of the Siegfried Line, says the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s correspondent at British Second Army Headquarters. There are dozens of these pillboxes ahead of our Geilenkirchen front, stron-’v fortified and manned, nestling in undulating and sometimes .sharply-rising country, through which flow the Roer River \ and its tributary, the Wurm. Our spearhead troops must w;in these miniature battles before the supporting forces can push through to win more Reich territory. We knocked out many of these pillboxes in the "banks of the Roer Valley ahead prepast three days, but the steen er sent more difficult obstacles. Our troops, on the left ,of the Geilenkirchen front this morning were hammering against the numerous blockhouses arid fortifications’ lining the bank of the Wurm River. Progress is slow, due to the tough nature of these static defences. The enemy increased artillery and mortar fire in the past 24 hours and brought up more tanks in the attempt to counterbalance the failure of the concrete defence' l of the West Wall. We have alreadv cut through some defences Ivinp behind the outer sk’n of the West Wall ana an imminent breakthrough into the wain arteries of the Siegfried Line is threatened at some points. The Associated Press correspondent renorts that the American 9th Army forces captured, high ground

overlooking Linnich and Julich against heavy resistance. ;

The Par.s radio states that the British Second Army occupied Julich.

The /British for the first time are encountering the true backbone of. the Siegfried Line in the Wurm Val-j ley, which is holding up our eastward, .advance, says Reuter’s correspondent. They are breaking into the! maze of the enemy’s comprehensive defence system and facing good and reinforced German armour. German pillboxes are arrayed close together. to as to command the Wurm Valley, which runs north-east from Geilen-| kirchen .to join the ROer north of' Linnich/ The British have sliced: diagonally into the 'Siegfried Line instead of assaulting it frontally. T'hey brqken north-south line of antitank barriers largely ineffective, but have thereby rendered the great unpillboxes face them in all directions, and the Germans are using them • fully to stem our drive eastward. The result is savage fighting with no material change. These pillboxes must be overcome one by one. Thick minefields make the going most treacherous for infantry.

The British troops north of Geilenkirchen who launched a limited attack to clear a. wood had again to face fanatical opposition adn mines. The bitterness of the fighting in this area is indicated by the fact that after three hours’ grim battling our face fanatical opposition and mines. The American Ninth Army is only two miles from Julich and are overlooking the approaches to th« River Roer, while United States First Army troops are still fighting house-to-house encounters in Eschweiler. In the north-west part of the town some of our troops were forced to withdraw and are fighting to regain the lost ground. An Allied launched to-day against a small » pocket of Germans at Roermond, north of the River Maas, succeeded and the enemy was eliminated. Our troops have not crossed the river. In the Geilenkirchen area to-day there was no change. Rain fell continuously throughout the day. Our fighterbombers were grounded owing to the weather. A British United Press correspondent east of Aachen reports: A woman sinper wounded .a United States officer to-day three miles south-east of Eschweiler. The officer returned the fire and killed the woman.

AMERICANS APPROACH RUHR: 7th. ARMY ON ROER RIVER. (Rec. 11.0). LONDON, November 23. Reuter’s ' correspondent at Allied Supreme Headquarters says: Frontline reports state that American troop;.' are stained in mud to-day. They are battering their way, yard by yard, towards the Ruhr, doing so under massive artillery support, as rain teems down, converting fields into lakes, and roads into shallow rivers. The American 9th Army troops have fought their way to the Roer River at two points. They also have reached the townships of Koslar and Barmen, three miles north-west of Julich, and also reached the townships of Bouriheim and Pattern, which are two and four miles 1 respectively south-west of Julich. All of these four townships overlook the Roer River, and give the Americans control of a substantial stretch of the western bank of the river, although several minor waterways intervene. Other Americans 1 have repulsed, near Beech, two German counter-at-tacks made with armour. BRITISH ALONG MAAS RIVER. (Rec. 11.0). LONDON, November 23. A Reuter correspondent at Allied Headquarters says: British 2nd Army forces are closing up to the Wurm River, but are meeting more determined resistance from well-prepa'red defences. British troops west of the Maas River have closed up to the river along a 16-miles stretch, from Baarlo southward, making advances up to a mile and a-half. In contrast to the bloody fighting inside the Siegfried Line, the British troops west of Venlo continue the advance against an enemy who is without defensive positions, and there are few close-quarter clashes. We were, to-night, within three miles of Venlo and took Baarlo, four miles from Venlo and about one mile from the Maas. The Germans are heavily shelling our positions from sites east of the Maas. The northern and southern arms of the British drive towards Venlo made little progress to-day against the stubborn defences of Severum in the north .and Baarlo in the south, says a correspondent at 21st Army Group Headquarters. The same stubbornness is being shown around the village of Amerika. The nearest point of the advance to Venlo is three miles.

U.S. Third Army REACHES GERMANY LONDON, Nov. 22. In the Moselle Gap the Third Army has gained more ground. Its left flank is already established in the Saar on a wide front, but the forces attack after heavy artillery preparameeting many roadblocks, minefields and heavy demolitions. Forward troops are two miles from the river. Elements of the 3rd Army penetrated into the Maginot Line six miles from the German border and four miles west of Stavold, states the with the 3rd Army. British United Press correspondent The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s S.H.A.E.F. correspondent reports the Americans reached the German frontier at two undefined places. The 10th Armoured Division, operating across the German border, advanced another mile and a half to occupy Tunsdorf. Forces operating slightly south reached the German frontier at two undefined places. Remilly Forest has been completely cleared and the enemy salient there eliminated. The Germans staged the first heavy counter-attack against the American 3rd Army three miles _west of Merzig, in the Siegfried Line zone, says Reuter’s correspondent with the 3rd Army. The Germans launched the atack after heavy artillery preparation, but the Americans repulsed the aS The t biggest news from the Western Front to-night is of the final liberat’on of the great French fortress of Metz and the capture of Mulhouse close to the French-German-Swiss’ frontier. The liberation of Metz is stated by a correspondent at Supreme Headquarters to have been effected at 3 p.m. to-day. The last German stronghold in this area was in He de Sauley. in the north-west part of the city. . The estimated strength of the garrison which has been captured is 900, including Lieut.-General Kittle, Commander of the 462nd Administrative Division. General Eisenhower sent congratulations to General Patton’s 3rd Army for the restoration to France of Metz.

U.S. SEVENTH ARMY DRIVING TO SAVERNE' GAP LONDON, Nov. 22. The Seventh Army is driving ahead after liberating Saarebourg, towards the Saverne Gap. and the city of Strasbourg, 25 miles to the northeast. The 7th Army battering through the Vosges passes towards Strasbourg captured Saverne, , after a severi-mile advance. The Americans are now 1 through the mountains on the flat country leading ti the Rhine-Marne Canal.

French Drive

COLMAR REACHED BIG ENEMY ATTACK. REPULSED. LONDON, Nov. 22. In the extreme south, the French First Army is going ail out to exploit its drive tnrougn the Belfort Gap. They have struck north towards the line of the Rhone-Rhine Canal, an ( j some umts have reached the big industrial city of Mulhouse, through which the canal runs. The Germans are along the Rhone-Rhine canal in force and already they nave launched a strong counter-attack against the narrowest part of the French salient in Alsace. A BffLC. correspondent says tnat the French are confident that they, can resist this attack.

French First Army troops have captured ivluiliouse and are now at the gates of Colmar. General de Gaulle told the Consultative Assembly. The Associated Press correspondent reports that the French took 1000 prisoners in Mulhouse, including part of the staff of the German 19th Army.

Violent street fighting is going on in Belfort. The French forces in tne Belfort Gap area beat off an enemy counter-attack in the area of Delle, where the Germans rtied to cut off the French armoured forces. The Swiss radio states that continuous, violent artillery fire was heard in Basle to-day from the Belfort area, indicating large-scale fighting. French tanks yesterday afternoon repeatedly attacked German pillboxes '' alon gthe lines from St. Louis to Neudorf, four miles from Basle. Between 3000 and 4000 Alsatian civilian refugees last night, hocked across the Swiss border. Reports from the Swiss-French frontier to-night say that French troops repelled an attack by about 15,000 Germans in the SuarceLepuix area, which is .about 12 miles south-east of Belfort. Leuix is in flames. 0 Reuter’s correspondent says that German troops trapped in the rough triangle, Belfort, Delle and Altkirch, recaptured Suarce. Street fighting continues at Belfort, and the Germans are resisting stubbornly in the Cnaienois Woods, near Belfort, and also holding their positions on the Rhine-Rhone Canal. The Germans in the Suarce-Lepuix district are fighting hard to break through to, the Swass frontier to sever de Tassigny’s communication lines.

General Brosset, formerly General de Gaulle’s Assistant Chief of Stall, was driving a jeep on tne 'Belfort front when it skidded into a flooded mine crater. Brosset was probably killed instantly, but his body was swept away and was not recovered. A staff officer and chaffeur accompanying Brosset were injured. General Brosset served in the joinea General de Gaulle in London French Army in the last war. He in 1941 and was sentenced to death in his absence. He commanded the Second Brigade in General Koenig’s Division last year, and led the division later in Italy and the landings in the south of France. He w.as the first to enter Lyons and took a large part in the preparations for the Belfort campaign. “The Germans to-day are in general retreat along the whole of the 100-mile front from south-west Sarrebourg right through AlsaceLorraine to the foot of the Vosges, said a report from Allied Headquarters yesterday. “The - withdrawal is disorganised in places, and the French and Americans have shot forward at some points from three to six miles in the last 24 hours.

GERMANS IN VOSGES.

MAY BE CUT OFF BY FRENCH AND AMERICANS. (Rec. 1.0). LONDON. November 23. A Reuter correspondent at Allied Headquarters says: A critical position developed for German forces in the Vosges Mountains, where all of their escape routes are threatened by an American push through the Saverne Gap, and the French sweep down the River Rhine around Mulhouse.