Fighting On The Moselle

Northern Advocate, 30 September 1944, Page 5

Fighting On The Moselle

(Rec. 2.30 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 29. Very fierce fighting on the Moselle front is going on in the vast Foret de Paroy, which is the nearest thing to a jungle that can be found in western Europe, says a correspondent of the “Daily Express” with the American 3rd Army. The front line surges back and forth as first the Americans attack and then the Germans counter-attack in clear cold days which already presage a bitter winter.

German infantry and tanks sally out from their forest lairs sometimes in the daytime, but more often at night, to strike against the American flank and communications.

The presence of Germans in the forest gives the fighting a mysterious and sinister character. The Germans, with their peculiar bent for melodramatic terror tactics, exploit the denseness ‘and darkness of their hideout by attacking American outposts in the guise of wild men of the woods. Germans repeatedly rush out of the forest screaming and brandishing fixed bayonets. Their skilfully camouflaged tanks slip through the trees like metallic jungle beasts. Their guns move from place to place within the forested area. German headquarters, command posts and bivouacs will probably all be merged into this massive woodland. Therefore the Foret de Paroy may prove a fortress as hard to break as the Metz forests, which hold the German line north of this sector.