STRUGGLE AROUSES ADMIRATION

Southland Times, Issue 25478, 26 September 1944, Page 5

STRUGGLE AROUSES ADMIRATION

REINFORCEMENTS SENT ACROSS RHINE NIJMEGEN CORRIDOR IMPROVED (United Press Association—Telegraph Copyright) (Rec. 11.15 p.m.) LONDON, September 25. The struggle of the airborne forces west of Arnheim goes on. The heroism of the soldiers in resisting heavy attacks by big German forces has aroused the admiration of the people of Britain. They have been fighting against tremendous odds for a week now and it is stated that the battle will rank as 4 one of the epics of the war. Although Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey’s 2nd British Army has not reached the airborne troops, supplies and reinforcements of Polish troops have been sent to them across the Dutch Rhine.

British tanks have penetrated the border of Germany near Nijmegen, and the capture of the German village of Beek, east of Nijmegen, has been reported. The corridor in the Nijmegen area is being steadily strengthened by the 2nd Army and the flanks are being built up steadily in spite of stiff resistance by the Germans. Troops of Lieutenant-General H. D. G. Crerar’s Ist Canadian Army have been fighting on the left flank of the Nijmegen corridor against stiff German resistance. The Canadians have now advanced more than 10 miles from their bridgehead over the Escaut Canal and it is reported that they have reached another canal north of Nijmegen. Heavy fighting is still going on in the region of Aachen and Lieutenant-General Courtney H. Hodges’s Ist American Army has continued its assault on the Siegfried Line defences at this point. A tighter hold has- been secured on the Moselle front by Lieutenant-General G. S. Patton’s 3rd American Army which has encountered heavy German resistance.