35-MILE THRUST INTO BELGIUM

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25084, 23 December 1944, Page 7

35-MILE THRUST INTO BELGIUM

panzers cut road south from liege By Telegraph-—Press Association—Copyright (Received December 22, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, December 22 The German offensive on the Western Front went on for its xth day yesterday with still heavier forces of men and metal throwing in their weight. At some points they are being held in bitter figh^ n g> but front-line correspondents send warnings that •ill further enemy progress must be expected. The last official news placed the deepest penetration at 35 miles inside Belgium on the right flank of von Rundstedt's push. This is the armoured thrust that went past Malmedy and Stavelot. The arrival of the panzers cut an important lateral road running outh fro m Liege. This German thrust has, however, gone past some stubbornly resisting American strongholds, of which Stavelot 'j one. Another one, much further east, is a village only a few miles from the German frontier. The Americans threw back one German counter-attack after another here yesterday and knocked out 16 tanks. The flanks of the German offensive are still securely pinned down and it is toward the centre that the penetrations are being made. * Germany's great counter-offensive has developed into two main wedges, of which one had by noon on Tuesday driven to the village of Habiemont, 14 miles west of Malmedy, and the other had smashed three-fourths of the way across Luxemburg, says the Associated Press correspondent at Supreme Headquarters. According to this report, which is more than 50 hours old, American resistance has stiffened both on the northern and southern flanks. The British United Press correspondent at Supreme Headquarters says that because of the security ban it cannot be stated whether the position since then has improved or deteriorated, but it is known that the German offensive comprises six prongs along a 60-mile front, which is still very fluid for 50 miles. The fury of the battle is still mounting, says Reuter's correspondent at Supreme Headquarters, and German reinforcements are probably ready to be pushed in at the appropriate time. Fluid warfare is being waged in the 50-mile gap on a scale unknown since the invasion started. The Germans achieved their greatest penetration in the Malmedy sector in a long thin triangle with its base on Malmedy and St. Vith. From there, the line of the German advance runs southward to a point due east of Wiltz, where another surge carried the Germans almost through Luxemburg. The line then swings slightly to the east toward Echternach, where the Germans penetrated for about eight miles. The German news agency s military commentator Sertorius says the Allies are attacking the flanks of the German penetration area from Aachen and from northern Lorraine, where the left wing of General Patton's Third Army has been hurriedly thrust against the southern tip of Luxemburg. "But the Germans are sweeping on," he says, "on a broad front foward the Meuse."