ADVANCE NEAR TURNHOUT

Southland Times, Issue 25483, 2 October 1944, Page 5

ADVANCE NEAR TURNHOUT

Steady Extension Of Bridgehead (8.0.W.) RUGBY, September 30. The bridgehead over the TurnhoutAntwerp Canal is being slowly extended, and our troops are advancing steadily on a six mile front, writes a correspondent at SHAEF. Although there have been numerous local actions at various places on the western front, positions generally remain the same. For some time there has been no major move on either side. The Germans have made little progress in the fighting in the Reighwald Forest. We have retained firm control at the -tip of the salient over the area to the west of the NijmegenArnhem road, between the lower Rhine and the Waal and have advanced as far west as five or six miles except for one small pocket of Germans on the south bank of the lower Rhine in the area of Renkum. To the south our patrols dominate all the area between the Waal arid the Maas as far as the narrow neck near Rossum.

COUNTER-ATTACKS REPULSED German counter-attacks against our Nijmegen salient were repulsed north of Best and near Nijmegen. Allied forces are advancing towards Hertogenbosch from the south-east and are within four miles of the town. Fighters and fighter bombers closely supported the ground forces and attacked transportation targets in Holland. There was considerable opposition in the air and according to reports so far, 33 enemy aircraft were shot down and 16 damaged by our fighters one of which is missing. Patrol activity has continued from the Aachen area to the Luxembourg-German frontier with enemy artillery fire on a slightly decreased scale. Troop concentrations and strongpoints south-east of Aachen were attacked by medium and fighter bombers. Allied units made local attacks near Hurtgen south-east of Stolberg. Further south our troops have made limited progress south-east of Prum against fortifications which were reduced in one attack. In south-east Luxembourg we have liberated Mompach and Wasserbillig Mauteconte, six miles south of Remich, has been freed. West of Metz an enemy thrust near Graveloote was repulsed and two German counter-attacks were repulsed near the Foret de Gremecy, 14 miles north-east of Nancy. In the Vosges foothills, the village of St. Gorgon was taken. Our positions west and north-west of Belfort have been improved against intensified resistance.

On Friday afternoon American airborne troops of the 82nd Airborne Division made an attack on the newly won enemy positions in -woods near Kranenburg, south-east of Nijmegen, writes a correspondent with the 2nd Army. Not all the Allied stations were regained. The Americans ran into a tough defence network and made small progress. Further north a strong enemy attack in the region of Bemmel, supported with self-propelled guns, was held. A communique from SHAEF states that enemy resistance in the Cap Gris Nez area has ceased and the longrange batteries there have been silenced. A total of 1300 German prisoners was taken. HEROIC DEFENCE AT ARNHEM Field-Marshal Montgomery Pays Tribute (8.0.W.) RUGBY, September 29. Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, in a message to Major-General R. E. Urquhart expressed the appreciation of the 21st Army Group for the magnificent fight by his Ist Airborne Division at Arnhem. “There is no shadow of doubt that had you failed the operations elsewhere would have been gravely compromised,” said Field Marshal Montgomery. "You did not fail and all is well elsewhere. ] “I would like all Britain to know j your final message from Arnhem: ‘All i will be ordered to break out rather' than surrender. We have attempted our best and will continue to do our best as long as possible.’ ” Field Marshal Montgomery said there could be few episodes in the annals of the British Army more glorious than the epic of Arnhem and those that followed after would find it hard to live up to the standards the Ist Airborne Division had set.

“As long as we have in the armies of the British Empire officers and men who will do as you have done, then we can indeed look forward with complete confidence to the future. In the years to come it will be a great thing for a man to be able to say ‘I fought at Arnhem’.”