VERDUN CAPTURED AND PASSED

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 208, 2 September 1944, Page 5

VERDUN CAPTURED AND PASSED

Allies Sweeping on to Belgium and Germany Disaster Follows Disaster For Routed Armies United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Received Saturday, 1.15 a.m. LONDON, September 1. Reuter’s correspondent with General Patton’s Third Army states that the Americans have captured Verdun, the famous French fortress which defied all German attacks in the last war. A German communique also announced the evacuation. Third Army American patrols sweeping out in front of the armour are already pushing on from Verdun towards Luxemburg and the Belgian and German borders. The Americans captured Commercy 31 miles south of Verdun. General Eberch, commander of the German Seventh Army, was captured during the British drive to Amiens. He was surprised and taken prisoner while having breakfast. He succeeded von Hausser when the latter was wounded. “Driving on northward from the Beauvais area Allied forces yesterday reached Amiens and established a firm bridgehead over the Somme,’’ reports to-night’s Shaef communique. Corbie Villers, Brettoneu and Moreuil are among the towns taken in this advance. “Our troops further westward reached Formerie, Buchy and Forges les Eaux. We north of Rouen captured Totes half-way to Dieppe, while other forces which crossed the Seine near Caudebec passed through Lillebonne and reached the area of St. Romain de Culbos. “The commander of the German Seventh Army was among the prisoners • taken yesterday. Allied armoured units in the Beauvais area pushed northeastward along the Breche River occupying Bresple and Fouquerolle. “Allied troops advancing north from Paris have taken the towns of Senlis, Creil and Crepy. The forces which took Crepy advanced to Bethancourt and Haramont. Our troops east of Crepy reached Vaumoise. Reconnaissance elements are within 2000 yards of Compiegne. “Allied troops moving east north of Rheims made gains of about ten miles. Other troops entered Laon where stiff fighting occurred when our forces accounted for three trainloads of German troops who were attempting to withdraw from the town.” Allied troops advancing beyond St. Dizier crossed the upper Aisne River several miles north of St. Menehoold. “Other troops moving southeast and east of Troyes made gains to points over 20 miles from the town, reaching the area just east of Bar-sur-Seine. “The Allied troops closing in on Brest have advanced almost to the coast west of the port in the area south of St. Renean. The enemy was cleared from Daoulas Peninsula south of Brest.

‘'Clouds over Trance hindered Allied activity early yesterday but operating under improved conditions later in the day fighters and fighter-bombers attacked enemy road and rail movements in Northern Trance and Belgium. Motor transport numbering hundreds was destroyed and locomotives and trucks were hit. Medium bombers and heavy bombers attacked coastal guns on the island of Cezembre. Light bombers hit fuel dumps in the Toret d’Arques and Nomexy and also attacked enemy shipping in Channel waters stretching from Dieppe to Dunkirk and hit a large merchantman and a small ship.”

An Air Ministry communique says that over 600 Bomber Command Lancasters and Halifaxes yesterday afternoon attacked several long-range weapon supply depots in Northern Trance. Mosquitoes last night attacked Dusseldorf and other objectives in Western Germany. Seven bombers are missing. ’ ’ “The Americans’ drive into the heart of Germany wiU not be slowed up for want of a single piece of equipment,” Major-General Henry Sayler, Chief Ordnance Officer of the United States Army in the European theatre, told correspondents in Paris. He is at present in Trance surveying ordnance and transportation problems. He revealed that one-way traffic traffic is already operating to Paris. Empty trucks return by a different route in order not to interfere with loaded convoys of trucks operating on the supply line 200 miles in length. The supply problem changed with the opening up of the war. The two American armies are burning from 6000 to 7000 tons of petrol daily and the Allies are bringing in all this while the supply trucks are keeping up with the front line. An American column at Bheims captured about 75 planes on the Bheims airfield which shows the haste of the Germans’ withdrawal.' The Americans, who are reported to be less than ten miles from the Belgian border, are heading for the forest of Ardennes through which the Germans in May, 1940, launched their surprise attack against Belgium, says Reuter’s correspondent with the American Firjrt Army. The Germans are retreating so fast that the Americans have to struggle to maintain contact. ”It has turned into a pursuit instead of a battle,” said a military official.

The German-controlled Brussels radio, broadcasting to Belgians, declared: “A new and significant war of events is threatening your country. The death penalty will be Imposed for any murderous attempts against members of the Wehrmacht or for any acts of violence or sabotage.”

The Associated Press’s correspondent at Shaef points out that the victorious British, American and Bussian armies which are all driving towards a junction in the heart of Germany, have covered almost half the distance and on tbe eve of the fifth anniversary of the war are little more than 700 ir#3s apart. When the Allied armies landed in Normandy on June 6 they were nearly 1400 miles from the Bussians who were then fighting before Mohilev.