WEST FRONT PROSPECTS

Grey River Argus, 21 March 1945, Page 6

WEST FRONT PROSPECTS

A NEW PHASE Expected m a Few Days LONDON, March 19. That the end of the next phase on the Western Front should see three Allied Army Groups on a 200-miles arc from Leipzig to Hamburg, is the opinion expressed by the “Daily Telegraph’s’” commentator, Lieuten-ant-General H. G. Martin. “If my surmises should have any base in fact,” he says, “we should see the development of a situation .something like this in a matter of days, oi' weeks at the most: On the right the Allied 6th Army. Group’ and the Thil’d Army, having thrown the remnants of the German First and Seventh Armies back eastward across the Rhine, would thus have laid bare that other vulnerable sector of the Rhine between Mannheim and Mainz, where a crossing would lead them. into the Plain of Hesse, and so to' Frankfurt. As to these new crossings, obviously the greater the confusion of the Germans the less would be the resistance to these, so the sooner the Allies are across • the better it would be. “From Frankfurt these Allied forces would advance presumably by two slightly divergent routes, the one up the Valley of Kinzig and thence through Fisenach Erfurt to Leipsiz or Madgeburg, and the other up the Valley of the Wetter and thence through Cassel to Hanover or Braunschweig. Together, be it noted, these two routes constitute our “high road” to Berlin. Leading through the hills not too difficult they would have this advantage _over the low road by way of the plain—they would by-pass the whole series of great north German rivers crossing nothing more formidable than their much diminished headwaters. Moreover, they would have as their goal the great road centres of Leipzig, Madgeburg, Braunschweig and Hanover, four of the . major objectives in all Germany, the seizure of which would paralyse resistance. “In the centre, meanwhile, the Twelfth Army Group 1 would be crossing the’ Rhine at Bonn and Cologne to strike north-eastward through the defiles in the Rhineland hills, and so out into the Westphalian Plain beyond the Ruhr. There it would continue north-eastward with the axis of its advance along the autobahn which connects the Ruhr with Hanover, near which latter it would expect to regain touch with the Sixth Army Group. “Finally, on the left the Twentyfirst Army Group would cross the Rhine downstream off Duisburg with the axis of its advance directed on Munster, Bremen and Hamburg. Indeed, one of its primary tasks, no doubt, would be to secure a north German port or ports, and so to shorten the sadly lengthening land lines of supply which would stretch back to Antwerp. Initially, its task could rje no easy one—to cross Ihe Rhine at its broadest, in the face of its old enemies of the First Parachute Army. Moreover, here on the low road, it would have three great rivers to cross—the Ems, the Wesel, and the Elbe. “Thus,” says Lieutenant- General Martin, “General Eisenhower would have marshalled his three Army Groups at the end of the advance on a 200-mile arc from Leipzig to Hamburg.”

NEXT MONTH DECISIVE? LONDON, March 19 April is now regarded by military commentators as “the decisive month.’’ By then ,it is thought, two great Russian army groups will move on again westward, and American and British forces may be over the ' Rhine at several points in force. Tire ! Hanover-Madgeburg area is suggested as a region where Allied armies wil link up “within thre months at the most.’’ NAZI “NO SURRENDER” STRATEGY LONDON, March 19 Commenting as to an eventual joining of British and American with Russian forces a writer in “The New Statesman and Nation,” said: It is certain that the Nazi leaders have laid their plans to meet that eventuality. Their objective is a dual one —to delay as long as possible the end of hostilities, and to create in Europe a maximum of economic chaos. The means chosen are firstly, to concentrate within the defensible mountain perimeter of Bohemia, Austria and Bavaria, the hard core of a German army, with Allied hostages as aditional assets; and secondly, to obstruct relief and construction in liberated territories by intensifying U-boat activities, and also by the long range V weapons, by Fifth Column sabotage, and by denying the Allies access to ports. In the light of these German strategy is explicable. Even when Marshal Zhukov’s guns can be heard in Berlin, the chief German counter-meausre is an offensive in Hungary. This is designed, if possible, to secure some of the 1945 Danubian wheat for the “reduit.” Tiie Reich itself will doubtless be sacrificed to this strategy of immolation. Their hope even if rail, is to sow discord between Russia and her western Allies. , prolong on the Continent the conditions of starvation and turmoil with which the U.N.R.R.A. will be powerless to cope, and wherein surviving Fascist elements in all countries —outposts of reduit, can defeat every effort . at economic and social reconstruction. They must hope that a Continent, already! disillusioned by fruits of liberation, will increasingly turn against the Allies, and that Fascists and gangster groups still loose in Europe will be their underground auxiliaries.” BRIDGING THE RHINE LONDON, March, 19 In the west, the Allies are regarded as having reached the climax* 1 ot their supply problem in the form ot •huge activity to bridge the Rhine. It is a vast problem. It is pointed out that no army has yet crossed, a major river obstacle after a fighting advance in less than three weeks from the period of holding a considerable stretch of the banks in strength, It stated that, approximately, six thousand tons of bridging material, and about seven thousand engineering troops are needed on each . divisional front. A fleet of trucks is required, and this makes lor a rem P 1 A 3l writer in “The Sunday Times,” “Scrutator” said: , The Remagen bridgehead is standing, in a . sense, outside of the' timetable. A piece Or luck it yet now fits well into the scheme. Being now big enough to hold a large fighting force, it shou d become possible, in conjunction with a big push farther north, to launch a strong" thrust, perhaps a . veritable break through, which acting as a hammer upon a northern anvil, might help to destroy most of the intervening German forces. PATTON SHOWS HOW. . NEW YORK, March 8. An Associated Press correspondent stated: Sergeant Thomas Befibaugh related how Lieutenant-General Patton twice swam the swift, i c Y Sure River in Germany last January under heavv machine-gun and artillery fire to inspire men to follow him. Sergeant Befibaugh followed his example. He said: “There was a foot.

of snow on the ground when we readied the 150 foot river just before dawn. We started across the river in three-man boats. General Patton recalled the boats, and ordered the men to swim across with everything they' could carry, because wg were like pigeons in the boats, sitting two or three f out of the water. To show us it could be done, General Patton swam to the opposite bank and back. Thousands ol troops * followed him.