PUSH TO EAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25180, 18 April 1945, Page 7

PUSH TO EAST

STEADY PRESSURE ALLIED JPROGRESS GERMAN RESISTANCE FANATICAL IN PLACES LONDON, April 17 Two armoured and three infantry divisions of the Ninth Army last night stood along a 95-mile stretch of the River Elbe, with the 83rd 'Division already across it, says a iDaily Express correspondent. The have already committed their last reserves, which they held apecifically for the defence of Berlin, 'and when these are smashed the •road to the Reich capital will be flride open. In the meantime the resistance of the Germans is so chaotic and fantastic that in places fighter planes have been dug into the sides of roads so that their machine-guns can be fired at passing rehicles. There was stiff, sometimes fanatical, resistance along all parts of General Bradley's American front yesterday, gays another correspondent, particularly against the bridgehead across the Elbe at Barby. Tanks and self-propelled guns ■were thrown in in counter-attacks, but the men of-the 83rd Division were pushing steadily eastward. According to the German radio another bridgehead across the Elbe has been won by the Allies, at Havelberg, 60 miles north-west of Berlin. The Daily Mail correspondent with the Ninth Army says that inside Magdeburg, a fanatical Nazi major-general, aged 36, is carrying on the fight against the wishes of the mayor. At least 100.000 of the remaining civilians and what is left of the city are being pounded bv Allied heavy guns. A Columbia System broadcaster on the First Army front said last night: "The stage is being set for the battle for Leipzig. Our forces all day have been moving into positions and closing in on the city. Our infantry units at some points are only five miles from the city, the outer perimeter of which has already been breached. More than 600 guns defending the city have been destroyed and 75 per cent of the city itself has been destroyed by bombing. "Our armour on Sunday ran into a road block, the defenders of which included some 12-year-old members of the Hitler Youth Movement in the uniform of the German Army. Some were so small that they could hardly lift bazookas Hitler has ordered Leipzig to be defended to the last." On the Third Army front an infantry division has captured the town of Hof and other troops have reached the vicinity of Schwarzenbach.