ALLIES CLOSING

Grey River Argus, 21 March 1945, Page 5

ALLIES CLOSING

ON CENTRAL RHINE MAINZ MENACED Bridgehead 18 by 8 A SIEGFRIED PUNCTURE. Tuesday’s communique from Supreme Allied Headquarters says: Allied forces have continued to expand the Remagen bridgehead. We pushed north to Oberkasel on the Rhine, three and a half miles north of Konigswinter; and have cleared Stockhausen and Windhagen, six miles east of Honnef. “Another fifteen hundred yards oi the autobahn, simth-east of Windhagen, is in our hands. “We have in the southern sector of the bridgehead cleared Rockenfeld four miles east-south-east of Honningen, against moderate resistance, and pave reached Kammerstein, on the Rhine, three and a-half miles southeast of Honningen. . The bridgehead is now eighteen miles long and eight miles deep. “We have cleared Coblenz, and we control the west bank of the Rhine from Coblenz to Bingen. "We have captured Bingenbruck, acress the Nahe River, west of Bingen. “There is heavy fighting progressing in the area south of Bingen and east of Kreuznach. "Our forces have cleared Woltsheim, thirteen miles south-west of Mainz, and Sprendlingen, and have entered Wollstein, five miles southwest of Kreuznach. “Kreuznach and Sobernheim are m our hands. “Allied armour has crossed the Nahe River, pushed south-eastward, and cleared Meissenheim, and .has reached the vicinity of Merzweiler, nine miles south-east of Kirn. Towns that have been cleared in these advances include Meddersheim and Merxheim, seven and five miles east of Kirn, on the south bank of the Nahe; and Schmidthachenbach, tour miles south of Kirn. “Allied armoured columns _ from the north and west have met in the vicinity of Merzweiler. This has resulted in a pocket being formed, which extends north-west almost to the River Moselle. Tt is estimated that it contains two thousand enemy troops. “We have farther south-eastward cleared Saint Wendel and Dirmingen. “In our Saarlautern bridgehead, we have made gains north-eastward against a heavy resistance. We have breached Siegfried Line defences at over a dozen points between Saarbrucken and the Rhine. Some pi our units are through the fixed fortifications. The enemy has entirely been expelled from French soil m this area, except for stragglers. “We have cleared Alschbach, west of Zweibrucken, knocking out 21 pill boxes. Gains were made m immediate Zweibrucken area. “We have farther to the east, reached the enemy’s main defence

line in the Hardt Mountains area. “In the northern Alsace Plain we have cleared Wissembourg, Ober- ' hofen and Altenstadt and our advanced elements drove northward three miles from Wissembourg, and reached Oberotterbach. “We captured Lauterbourg, after hard fighting. “The Allies in the west on Sunday took 5,040 prisoners.”

U.S. 3rd. ARMY BREAK THROUGH ENEMY PUT IN A QUANDARY (Rec. 7.40) LONDON, March 19 A two miles stretch of the Rhine between Coblenz and Boppard has been cleared, meaning that the U.S. Third Army controls the west bank of the Rhine for 30 miles from Coblenz to Bingen. Third Army armour has crossed the Nahe River southwest of Kreuznach. The Third Army has taken Sprendligen, a road' and rail centre south-west of Mainz. The Germans have blown up the fourlane road bridge across the Rhine at Mainz. This was one of the escape routes for the Germans in the rough triangle of the rivers Saar, Moselle and Rhine, in which General Patton’s tanks and infantry gained much new ground in the drive to the Rhine between Coblenz and Karlsruhe. The destruction of the Mainz bridge apparently means that the Germans have abandoned any hope of rescuing any sizeable number oi forces from this part of the front. A Third Army force entered St. Wendel, and drove to a point 15 miles east of Merzig, reducing the gap between Allied forces to less than 10 miles. Third Army infantry made two new crossings of the Moselle north-east of Trier. Details of these crossings are witheld. Germans trying to escape frim the Saar-Mo-selle-Rhine triangle at Boppard were wiped out. American aircraft caused havoc along the narrowing German escape routes in the Saar-Moseile-Rhine triangle. Two U.S. air forces conjointly destroyed more than 1,400 horse-drawn signs. A mass German withdrawal from the triangle was observed. On Monday 3rd Army armour was 14 miles. south-west of Mainz, 27 miles northward of Kaiserlautern, and 19 miles north-west of Kaiserlautern. Elements of the U.S. Fourth Armoured Division captured Sprendlinger, six miles east-north-east of Kreuznach.

An Allied military Government has taken over the administration of Coblenz, which is entirely, cleared °f Germans. When the last group of German troops surrendered, Gestapo men inside the building opened f‘ re against them wounding some. The population of Krueznach is reported to be hostile to the Allies. The Germans’ resistance along the Saar-Siegfried Line, although they know it is hopeless, is designed primarily to hold open escape routes north and south of Mainz. The Third Army has the equivalent of six tank divisions, prowling and smashing up positions and communications. The Germans hope to prevent the Seventh Army from crashing through from the south and engulfing the whole west bank of the Rhine. French Seventh Army forces in a nine miles dash northward along the Rhine reached Lauterbourge, which is 12 miles east-south-east of Wissembourg. Armoured units nave driven to the eastern outskirts o Wissembourg ,and entered Altenstadt one mile south-eastward. Al latei' report recorded a link up. The U.S. Third. Army is using more armour than in the Normandy break through. General Eisenhower is forcing the German High Command to make a most difficult decision. H n>ey continue to leave only small forces in the south they risk deep disnrJanising penetrations . by the French and U.S. 3rd. Armies. If they forces southward to oppose the n^ ft Armv tlieV must weaken the 3rd Arn Z > Dpos i te Marshal Montmai erv The P Germans will probably iSportw? than th ? 3rd Army,s d ‘” Ct break through U.S. THIRD ARMY CAPTURES.

(■nee 11.40). LONDON, March 20 1 TT S Third Armv troops captured a nprman field artillery battalion inUrt while clearing Dirmingen, 17 miles east of Merzig. Third Armv armour has pushed on t 0 Vendersheim, 12 mil’s south-west

of Mainz, said a Daily Telegraph’s correspondent with the Third An y. The Germans, it is reported, have destroyed all four Rhine i n the Mainz area. German forces flap ped in the Saar-Mose le-Rhme t iangle, originally estimated at 80,000. arc- streaming towards the escape bridges across the Rhine. RoadS T leading to Mainz, Manheim, and Karlsruhe are being so choked with Gelman military traffic that American airmen did not need to search ioi_ tar gets Ninet.v Germans were caotiuea in a pillbox. French troops who crossed their own border into Germany m the Lauterhourne area on Monday, made the first French penetration of Hitler’s Reich since France tell m 1940. REMAGEN BRIDGE BEYOND REPAIR. OTHERS BEING PROVIDED. (Rec 10.30); LONDON. March 20. Correspondents with the U.S. First Army quote a First Army engineer as saving that the Ludendorf bridge at Remagen has now completely gone, ing it. The engineer revealed that There is now no question of repairmore bridges have been thrown across the Rhine River in the last few days. He added: “We have enough to sustain our offensive east of the river. Heavier bridges are already under construction.” Ist ARMY EXTENDS BRIDGEHEAD LONDON, March 19. Remagen bridgehead has been extended to 15 miles in length and eight miles in depth, by the U.S. Ist Army. They entered Obercassel. They again cut the great autobahn. Eight miles east of Honnef a point well across the autobahn was captured in a 2000 yards’ advance. In the south Rheinbollen, four miles to the north, and Andernach have also been captured. The deepest penetration, so tar, east of the Rhine, is. at Heide, eight miles east of Linz. The bridgehead measures 15 miles from Unkel to Oberhoppen. Astride the autobahn, Windbangen and Hohn' have been cleared, and a battle is in progress in Birken. Further south, troop’s advanced 1000 yards south-east of Honningen towards the Weid River.