Advancing on 55-mile Front

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 44, 21 February 1945, Page 5

Advancing on 55-mile Front

Americans Clean Through Siegfried Line (By Prev Assn.—Copyright.) * Received Tuesday, 8.50 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 20. Third Army troops are now advancing on a 55-inile front stretching from a point six miles southwest of Prum to three miles southwest of Sinz in the Saarbrucken area, says the British United Press’s correspondent with the Third Army. General Patton’s troops in gains up to one mile cleared and captured seven towns. The Times’ correspondent reports that the Americans have broken clean through a belt of the Siegfried Line over a stretch of seven miles between the strongpoint of Ernzen 2-1 miles north of Echternach and Kruchten eight miles northwest of Echternach. They have now advanced across the frontier to a depth of five miles. There is no concrete ahead in the area of the advance. Since the Americans on February 7 thrust across the Our and Sauer Rivers into the Rhine province they have taken prisoner 2455 Germans. The enemy suffered 50 per cent, casualties while the American losses were comparatively light. Making their first penetration of German soil in the past two months General Patch’s Seventh Army troops pushed across the Saar River in assault boats east and west of Saareguemines, says the British United Press correspondent. The last time Seventh Army troops were inside Germany was last December during the temporary occupation of the Wissembourg pocket. They have now advanced to a point five miles north of Saareguemines. The Tactical Air Forces did not operate yesterday because of the low ceiling and poor visibility, but improved conditions in the afternoon enabled nearly 1000 sorties, mainly against German railway communication centres. The pilots claim to have disabled 18 locomotives and destroyed 644 rail trucks and 164 motor transports. Sixteen Thunderbolts without loss shot down six of 21 German planes attacking them near Linburg yesterday. Troops of the American Third Army have launched a new drive into Germany on a front, of 30 miles from the Luxembourg border. The correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain reports that the Americans advanced up to half a mile along the whole front. Bad weather greatly limited air cooperation. The Americans driving southeast reached points seven or eight miles southeast of Prum. The Echfernach bridgehead has been extended and is now about 11 miles long. One division has overcome 112 pillboxes in this area. KEYSTONE TOWN ALMOST WON Field-Marshal Montgomery’s Scottish troops mopped up two-thirds of the keystone Siegfried Line town of Goch, using tanks and bayonets to root out savagely-fighting Germans from the ruins of this stronghold, says the correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain on the Western Front. Frequently using their bayonets, the Scots cleared Goch on the north side of the Niers River, which coils through the fortified town, and mopped up half of the area on the western and southern sides of the stream. The Germans are still fighting back stubbornly from the southern and southeastern sections of the shattered town. Reuter’s correspondent says that the Scottish troops moved into Goch so quickly that they caught the garrison commander in bed and captured him and his entire staff while they still had the bedclothes over them. Infantry, under cover of fog, stole in through the western defences, which were lightly held, and seized the commander, who was wounded in the leg. He confessed that he had expected the main attack from the north, so had chosen his headquarters in a house in the southwestern part of the town. The commander was a Luftwaffe officer who was recently transferred to the army. The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s correspondent says that nothing but a counteroffensive on a large scale can prevent the fall of Goch within the next few hours. The last house to house battles are raging. Both the British and the Germans have pushed fresh troops into the battle in the last few hours. The Germans are continuing to fight doggedly on both flanks of the advance on the western bank of the Rhine and the eastern bank of the Maas. Front line correspondents report that the British hold three miles of the Goch-Kalkar road at the base of their salient. Canadian spearheads further to the east to-day cleft their way through tough enemy paratroop reinforcements and again cut the road in extremely bitter fighting. Reports from the left flank state that the Germans have been throwing in all their available forces in the past 48 hours and that very stiff fighting is going on in the approaches to Kalkur, The Germans succeeded in stemming the Allied advance parallel with the floods of the swollen Rhine. The focal point of the fighting is the town of Moyland and the wooded area around the town, which has become a no man’s land, with Scottish, British, and Canadian troops at grips with German paratroops. Both sides suffered casualties in this battle. Southwest of Moyland the British expanded their bridgehead over the Goch-Kalkar road. Welsh troops are mopping up a German pocket north of Goch on the road to Kleve. Scottish units driving down the eastern bank of the Maas towards Venlo found the flooded German defences a difficult obstacle to surmount. The defences run from the river 3000 yards inland to Blijenbeek Castle, which the Germans appear to have converted into a strong-point. Reuter’s correspondent at Shaef says that after Goch falls the pace of General Crerar’s advance should speed up over the broad Rhineland plain stretching southwards, where there is no Siegfried Line and no floods. The Canadian First Army at Goch and the British SecontWLnny at Venlo are both only 27 miles from Duisburg, the gateway to the Ruhr. The Canadians have only the Rhine before them. General Dempsey’s troops have an extra barrier, the Maas. The prospect of outflanking the German defences on the eastern side of the Maas by a push from the north presents a picture full of offensive possibilities. She: Just think, lightning has struck the old oak where we first became acquainted. He: Serve it right. By special ari'angement Reuter’s world service, in addition to other special compilation of overseas intelligence published in this issue, and all rights therein In Australia ancl New Zealand are reserved.