Retreating Germans' Scorched Earth Policy

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 93, 20 April 1945, Page 5

Retreating Germans' Scorched Earth Policy

LONDON, April 18. Earlier messages stated that the Germans were scorching the towns in the path of the great British armoured thrusts which were threatening Hamburg from only 17 or 18 miles irom the south and southeast. Correspondents at I*ield-Marshal Montgomery's headquarters say that only patchy resistance lies ahead of the Seventh and Eleventh Armoured Divisions, which are advancing over an increasingly wide area of the Luneburg Plain. The Seventh Armoured Division thrust forward three or four miles and captured Kampen, 10 miles south of the BremenHamburg autobahn. All the ancient part of the city of Magdeburg lying west of the Blbe River fell into the hands of the Ninth Army after dame-throwing tanks had burnt out the last fanatical members of the Hitler Youth from their rat-holes, reports a correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain, ftothishorn Island, which divides the Elbe opposite the city, is still in German hands. The enemy blew up the highway bridge across the river, but according to late reports the railway bridge is still intact. It is expected that it will be blown up at any moment. Magdeburg is nothing but a rubble heap. Not a single undamaged building is left standing. It is another ghastly monument to the devastation of Allied air power. As the Americans fought their way through the streets, civilians came out of the cellars and rushed for water. The bombing had knocked out the electrical equipment operating the water supply and the people were crazed with thirst. TOUGH TIGHT TOR NUREMBERG

The battle for Nuremberg is proving tough, says Reuter’s correspondent. Troops of the Seventh Army entered the city last Monday night, but the defenders, who are believed to numbei between 5000 and 10,000, are lighting back stubbornly with heavy artillery, mortars and bazookas.

The Americans penetrated Nuremberg at four different points, but the enemy opposition is still very herce. German antiaircraft guns on the perimeter of the city kept up intense lire. The Seventh Army has announced the capture of its 250,000 th prisoner since the landings in South France. The German News Agency say 3 that the Nazi Party Congress Hall at Nuremberg is in flames. After nine attacks the Americans penetrated into the grounds of the congress hall. American troops captured undamaged Germany’s largest synthetic rubber plant at Schkopau, south of Malle, which until three days ago was turning out 6000 tons of synthetic rubber a month, says the British United ?ress correspondent with the First Army. The plant, which covers four square miles and employed 15,000 workers, could he set in motion at a moment’s notice if supplies of raw materials were made available. The director, whom the correspondent found hiding from the slave workers, said that the Allied air forces bombed the plant five times, but caused little damage. The Ruhr pocket so far has yielded 309,484 prisoners, more than twice the original estimate. It is officially stated that 50,000 remain to he rounded up. A French communique stales that the Royan pocket north of the Gironde Estuary was completely cleared after the surrender of the German troops garrisoning the La Coubre fortifications. AS GOOD AS SOMETHING FOR NOTHING. Buy a 2/- bottle of BONIGLO indow Cleaning Fluid and you get double the size bottle of ordinary window cleaners. BONIGLO LIQUID it s spirit baso makes window cleaning quick and easy. Best value and Best Window Polish. From all stores.