MISTS AND RAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25052, 16 November 1944, Page 5

MISTS AND RAIN

ASSAULT OVER MARSHES BARRAGE OF 400 GUNS 2000 SHELLS A MINUTE

peed. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 15 A correspondent says that 400 of our guns pat down ,2000 shells a minute on a patch of German-held territory only three miles square. 'After 15 minutes of -this, British infantry,' tanks and flame-throwers moved up to the attack. The German positions were behind'two eanals, the Noord and the Wessen, and in 16 minutes our assault boats were across one of the canals and oufmen were spreading fire in the German trenches. Bridgeheads were established across both canals by nightfall. A barrage of 400 guns split the silence twilight at a time when normally tin rival armies had settled down to iHlier freezing night in mists and Brat states the corcespondent of the British United Press. The Germans initead found themselves fighting and gropiag backward through the mists towara their own border.

A nightmarish battle flared up, the twrespondent adds, and a torrent of ire suddenly lighted up the dismal it&ie, Tanks dragged assault craft be--11l them like sledges through marshes and mud to the bank of one canal, bom where troops set off to attack a pirotal island held by the Germans at i junction of the two canals. The troops itemed over both canals as darkness fell and battled on against the bewildered Germans.

Masses of troops, guns and tanks were last night pounding at tiie enemy in the bid to hound them back to their own frontier. Our men were muffled to the ears in their woolly helmets. There tere eerie scenes-, lit tip by gunflashes, W tanks pressed on past stampeding cattle. Here and there a village suddenly blazed up with a glowing vivid light as fires raged in the houses. The Germans last night were busy Wowing up more bridges and setting fire to farm houses. ■ This new "electric shock" against ■'Germany's sensitive eastern flank of the salient _ gives added pressure to that *Wch 'is being exercised by General Patton's American Third Army further ■outh in the Metz area. MOVES IN NORWAY GERMANS LEAVING NORTH Reported allied landing |H»«cd. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 15 , A smalt Norwegian force has landed fo Northern Norway, according to a i Reliable but unconfirmed report, says Daily Herald. The force, it is rePorted, came from England. A British official wireless message 't&tes that the Norwegian military Mission sent 'from Britain is now attached to the Soviet command on thp Arctic front. Norwegian detachments opsrating in this sector consist of epeci- % trained troops drawn from Norwegian forces trained in Britain. increasing numbers of German troops ■fa retreating from Finmark, the most northerly county of Norway, into •NHlis, the next countv to the southw, according to the Norwegian Tele-. Agency. Large units of infantry ® na wotorised forces are moving west-; fc r , n S a highway which is broken J uoras, where ferries must be used. m naic orce as reached Porsanger /The Germans are destroying every 83 they retreat, shooting cattle sin i r . ri i n .K what stores they cannot E e - Civilians also arc being evacuated jj-i _*inmark to the towns of Vardo Jld Vadso, on Varanger Fiord. The Jr ® a . ns have wiped out herring oil 1 m? ®s and stripped their machinery. Tfnm age , nc y added that a letter from S°\ , . Principal town of Troms, arifi S 'Everything is muddle, chaos JW madness. The town is full of TL p es «ii I. iW s aro preparing to blow P installations in Trornso harbour."

|g AACHEN FRONT Jismal winter conditions Jjd- 6.30 p, m .) LONDON, Nov. 15 litis!! 0 ! ?i s ' le "^ re - mud, snow and !Ampti. re Main features of the First encarj Army front in the Aachen 'teacHrt rrw - pondent says the Germans tWlla „ ail y signof movement and their Pin aw .^ m ® over the thick fof 6v cover the hills, aiming ifieh wiH P' ace where General Hodges' may be concentrated,

ift, general killed The r. pm,> LONDON, Nov. If, that i 1 ] lan n . e ) vs agency announced e, . lan H c,u : rn 1 K °se nhiisch, tlQrtti" „ f ] ■?! fortifications "in the Tl u u 08 - k iN »» P a 's kilW) K * £° German gen-

CLOSE TO METZ AMERICAN PROGRESS MORE FORTS CAPTURED (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. ir> American troops advancing from the south are at twp places within two miles of Metz, says Reuter's correspondent with the American Third Army. Pouilly, two and a-half miles south of Metz, has been taken. Other Americans advanced to the vicinity of Rozerieulles, three miles west of Metz. The Koenigsmacker bridgehead, north of Metz, has been extended four miles to the south, making the bridgehead 12 miles long and five miles deep. Another correspondent says that the bridgehead includes the whole of the long-disputed town of Thionville. The Americans advancing on Metz are coining under shellfire, but on the whole resistance is still surprisingly light. Signs of the German withdrawal in the Metz area are increasing after the capture of more forts south of Metz. American troops captured Fort Orny, six miles to the south-east, and later stormed and captured the Yser Fort and its satellite fortifications, four miles south of Metz.

The weather improved a little yesterday along the Vosges front, and Allied troops kept up their pressure all down the line to the Swiss border. American Seventh Army troops advanced in four sectors and captured Leintray. In the Jura Mountains country, the First French Army attacked. At the foot of the Jura Mountains- thev launched an assault along the line of the Doubs River. A correspondent 011 this front says the Germans can be relied on to fight fiercely, as the French troops here are facing .the main defences of the Belfort Gap. Moving forward after a heavy artillery preparation yesterday, however, the French cleared several villages in the defence zone south-west of Montbeliard. ITALIAN CAMPAIGN* GAIN OF TWO MILES MADE APPROACH TO FAENZA (Kecd. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 15 United Kingdom troops of the Eighth Army in Italy have advanced two more miles along the road from Forli to Bologna. Others who crossed the Montone River at two points southwest of Forli have linked up with Polish forces on their left flank.

Faonza, the next important town on the Forli-Bologna road, is being approached from three sides

TROOPS LINK IN BURMA INDIANS AND AFRICANS (Reed. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 15 Troops of the Fifth Indian Division in Burma, advancing on Kalemyo from the west, have linked up with East African troops attacking from the north. . Chinese troops advancing on Bhamo from the east have occupied a village four miles from Bhamo. •WAR CRIMINALS

ATTITUDE OF NEUTRALS (Reed. 8.43 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 14 The Swiss Federal Council has announced that Switzerland will not open her doors to those who have violated the laws of war or whose conduct has been "irreconcilable with the fundamental traditions of the rights of humanity," reports the Associated Press correspondent in Borne. Asylum will also he denied to those whose attitude has been hostile to Switzerland. Switzerland will, however, continue to grant asvlum to "worthy fugitives." An American State Department spokesman said that Eire's reply to the American request for assurances, or refusal to give asylum for war criminals "does not go as far as wo would like in air particulars." However, nearly all circles in Washington refused to believe that Eire will give refuge to Hitler or any other leading Nazis.