Monty’s Scythe Sweeps Round German Rear

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 206, 31 August 1944, Page 5

Monty’s Scythe Sweeps Round German Rear

RUGBY, Aug. 29. The great Allied scythe stroke behind the German armies seems to be meeting just the same lack of resistance now that it has wheeled north as during its 250 miles eastward sweep. There have been no reports that the crossings of the Marne and of the Aube were considered any more difficult than those of the Seine. Whether the way is as clear to Amiens and St. Quentin as it has been to Soissons remains to be seen, but the prospects of the German forces between there and Le Havre are extremely dim. Nor is that aIL From the Upper Seine the advance has been equally rapid north-eastwards I towards the Belgian frontier in the j direction of Hirsom ana Sedan, which are now barely 50 miles away. The | Allies have also begun to break out from the Lower Seine crossings advanc-' ing in an almost continuous front be-j yond the Seine between Mantes and \ Rouen. BATTLE FOR AIRFIELD j The Germans at Le Bourget, behind three defence lines, fought a fanatical hopeless battle for the airfield, states: the British United Press’s Paris corres-; pondent. They had no armour to face the French tanks, which butchered the , Germans, killing over 200. Another 150 j were taken prisoner. The French i casualties were six killed and three ! wounded. The Germans asked for no quarter and rejected a surrender ultimatum which the French delivered before the battle. The German dead are already bootless. There are such shortages of shoes in Paris that civilians have stripped the hoots from the dead everywhere. The rapid progress of the American drive and the wide extension of the British bridgehead across the Seine are reported in late despatches from frontline correspondents. The Associated Press’s correspondent at Chateau Thierry says that British armoured columns broke out of the Seine bridgehead at Vernon soon after daybreak, one driving forward 12 miles to Etrapagyn and Hacqueville, which are respectively 14 *nd 16 miles north and north-northeast of Vernon, and the other punching five miles to Brayetlu, which is nine and a-nalf miles eastnortheast of Vernon. Forward elements from the bridgehead east of Louviers which has almost doubled in size during the day pulled a left hook south-east-ward which carried them into Lasandelys, the occupation of which is expected hourly. “The form of the new British attack is taking shape,” says Reuter’s correspondent west of the Seine. “All the afternoon I watched tanks and armoured cars go across the muddy swirling Seine. The columns already have a choice of bridges, and soon the traffic lanes will be eased because the engineers are working like ants, tightening •crews and filling in jigsaw pieces of another bridge to span the waterway. Armour and supplies are crossing th bridges in a steady stream at 10 miles an hour. There is little resistance around the perimeter of our bridgehead. Once we have broken through that belt, it is plain sailing. The enemy has an odd tank, but his troops have no prepared defensive line.” The Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent in France says: The German High Command in the last one or two drys has brought elements of an armoured division from Norway to bolster up the Seine front. The men oi this d. vision we met on the Seine are of very low quality. Reuter's correspondent at British Second Army Headquarters says that pilots of the Tactical Air Force have observed signs cf the lower reaches of the Somme being flooded, suggesting that the Germans are hoping to be able to hold up the sweeping Allied advance at this river harrier; if only for a short period. The Germans have only two *

rearguard infantry divisions supported by armour south of the Seine bulges, i These Germans have no bridges left. | They are trying to cross in ferries and even swimming during the night. The British and Canadians northwest of Paris, advancing against heavy opposition, are clearing up the Foret de Brotonne, which is one of the last German loops south of the Lower Seine, says Shaef. The Allies extending from the Pont de Larche bridgehead in the Elbauf area have reached Boos, thereby tapping the Paris-Rouen road. The Allied bridgehead at Louviers across the Lower Seine has been extended to Bacqueville. The Associated Press’s correspondent at Chateau Thierry says that General Patton’s high-speed Third Army forces have encountered only minor resistance as they advanced over the historic First World War battleground around Chateau Thierry. The Germans’ main columns are in headlong flight towards the Reich and Belgium. Their escape routes are clogged with traffic which has been heavily pounded from the air. Another American force east of Chateau Thierry driving forward rapidly has crossed the Marne. The whole of General Patton’s Third Army appears to have wheeled northward to drive for the Belgian frontier behind the enemy’s secret weapon coast, says the Daily Mail, and is advancing at breakneck speed. The Daily Express’s military correspondent says that four V2 sites in the Pas de Calais area are believed to be ready. They have been repeatedly bombed, but it ia doubtful whether mortal damage can be done to them from the air. If the Germans do not make a stand on the Aisne, it will mean that the Pas de Calais will be completely outflanked as the British and Canadians close up on the Somme. According to the Official Wireless, the French Forces of the Interior have taken Burgandy and the towns of Joigny and Auxarre between the Loire and the Upper Seine, according to General Koenig’s headquarters’ communique to-night. At Elbeuf 300 prisoners were taken. French forces have captured Tarbes, in the foothills of the Central Pyrenees, where the German garrison surrendered and the general in command was taken prisoner. The German troons in bases in the Pyrenees are withdrawing towards the Spanish frontier.