RIVER TRIANGLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25799, 21 March 1945, Page 5

RIVER TRIANGLE

GENERAL WITHDRAWAL FRENCH ARMY ON THE MOVE LONDON, Mar. 19. Armoured units of the American Third Army have entered Saint Wendel. Infantry have driven to a point 15 miles east of Merzig, reducing the gap between two forces to less than 10 miles. Third Army infantry have made two new crossings of the Moselle north-east of Trier, report agency front-line correspondents. Details of these crossings are withheld. The Thijd .Army now controls the west bank of the Rhine for 30 miles from Coblenz to Bingen, where the Nahe River flows into the Rhine, except for one pocket two miles long. . The Germans trying to escape from the Saar-Moselle-Rhine triangle at Boppard were wiped out yesterday. American artillery sank their, barges. Signs of a mass German withdrawal from the triangle were observed when Thunderbolts to-day resumed the attacks against the retreating columns. The Allied Military Government has taken over the administration ■ of Coblenz, which was entirely cleared of Germans when the last group surrendered this morning. Gestapo men inside a building opened fire against them, wounding some. The population of Kreuznach is reported to be hostile to the Allies.

French Seventh Army forces in a nine-mile dash northward along the Rhine, reached Lauterbourg, which is 12 miles east-south-east of Wissembourg. Armoured units have driven to the eastern outskirts of Wissembourg. and have entered Altenstadt, one mile south-east. Reuter’s correspondent at Allied headquarters says German resistance along the Sarr-Siegfried Line, although they know it is hopeless, is designed primarily to hold open the escape routes north and south of Mainz. Despite the fact that the Third Army has the equivalent of six tank divisions prowling around smashing up positions and communications, the Germans hope to prevent the Seventh Army-from crashing through from the south and engulfing the whole west bank of the Rhine.

The Third Army offensive is a diver, sion of major 'importance, says Reuter’s military correspondent. Genera] Patton is employing more armour than in the Normandy break-through. General Eisenhower is forcing the German High Command to make a most difficult decision. If the Germans continue to leave only small forces in the south they risk- deep disorganising penetrations by General Patton and the French Army. If they shift their forces southward to oppose the Third Army they must weaken the main front opposite Field-marshal Montgomery. The Germans will probably be compelled to send reinforcements southwards. This indirect achievement of General Patton’s break-through may be more important than any direct gains The British United Press correspondent reports that American First Army troops driving through woods and over 1 steep: hills, recut the Colo'gneFrankfurt autobahn five miles northeast of Konigswinter Other infantry farther east are fighting in Berghen, six miles east-north-east of Konigswinter,' arid under six miles south of the Cologne-Limburg highway Although the bridgehead is constantly expanding as the result of pressure of substantial American force- built up within the perimeter no spectacular gains are reported in the past 24 hours The deepest penetration so far east of the Rhine is at Heide. eight miles east of Linz