MOVE TOWARDS COLMAR

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 3, 1 December 1944, Page 5

MOVE TOWARDS COLMAR

FAST PUSH FROM STRASBOURG HARD FIGHTING IN AACHEN GAP LONDON, Nov. 30. The battle to liquidate the German 19th Army, is still the swiftest development on the Western Front. The American Seventh Army, driving along the Ehine towards Colmar, is now 16 miles beyond Strasbourg. The Germans admit that Colmar is the centre of their operations in this area and are doing everything possible to delay the advance. Even the smallest bridges are being destroyed and road blocks are frequent. The left flank of the Seventh Army is working towards the Saar, where the Third Army is meeting stifPer resistance in the outposts of the Siegfried Line west of the Saar River. In the Aachen Gap there is bitter hand-to-hand fighting for small towns and villages, including one three miles-from Duren. In this area jhe Americans-have had to relinquish some ground. The Ninth Army is developing its threat to the stronghold of Linnich and has reached the Roer River at new points between Linnich and Julich. On the British Second Army sector the River Maas is dropping with the improved weather, and, to the accompaniment of heavy artillery duels, the Germans are hastily building up their defences on the east bank.