SOUTHERN FLANK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25737, 8 January 1945, Page 3

SOUTHERN FLANK

GERMANS PUSHED BACK

EFFECTIVE COUNTER-ATTACKS

(Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 7. The Germans who crossed the Rhine north of Strasbourg have been pushed back from five villages on the main Strasbourg-Seltz road, says Reuter’s correspondent. The only remaining area under their control is parallel with the Rhine. The Germans to the north-west are intensifying their efforts to break through the mountain passes south-east of Bitche to the Alsatian plains, but they are being held. Their casualties are mounting steadily under American artillery and mortar fire. An American officer said the Germans were launching attack after attack, screaming and yelling like the Japanese.

“While our troops on the northern flank of the Ardennes salient are facing heavy opposition and have been engaged ins mopping up and clearing out some of the indents into our lines, our forces in the south have been subjected to another series of counter-attacks, particularly between St. Hubert and Wiltz,” states a correspondent at Allied headquarters in a late report. “The heaviest of these attacks was against our armoured units to the north of Margaret, two miles north-east of Bastogne.' It was repulsed by tanks and artillery fire. Other, attempts to disrupt our forces were also nullified, and we made some gains two miles east of St. Hubert. Luterbois has been cleared. Elements of the 80th Division crossed the Sure River and entered Goersdorf, half a mile to the north. Seventh Army forces attacked Eingen, on the main highway from Sarregumines to Haguenau, and succeeded in surrounding the town. Phillipbourg has once more been cleared of the enemy.” No changes are reported, in the stretch of territory between Bitche and the banks of the Rhone. Fighting is still in progress between our troops and the battalion of Germans who crossed the Rhine north of Strasbourg, and the latest information is that we have launched a counter-attack. Northwest of Mulhouse a strong enemy raid was repulsed on Friday evening, while patrols are still active west and northwest of Colmar.

Reuter’s correspondent at Allied headquarters said the Germans were suffering heavy casualties on the Saar front. Even the wounded are fighting from foxholes. One prisoner was an inspector in a Messerschmitt factory a few weeks ago.

The Paris radio said that French troops had crossed the Rhine south of Mulhouse. *