LONG SALIENT ON RHINE

Southland Times, Issue 25533, 29 November 1944, Page 5

LONG SALIENT ON RHINE

MULHOUSE CLEARED OF ENEMY (Rec. 10.30 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 28. The Allied corridor to Strasbourg has been extended to a width of about 10 miles. This means that units of the French Ist Army and American 7th Army are holding a long salient parallel to the Rhine. Mulhouse has been entirely cleared of the enemy, reports a correspondent in the newly-liberated city. The enemy is still active near Kembs, where he holds strong positions west of the Rhine between Mulhouse and Basle. American 3rd Army tanks gained ground in a sector eight miles north of Merzig, representing a four-mile penetration of Germany, which is the deepest yet made by the 3rd Army. The Americans raced through St. Avoid today, beyond the Maginot Line, and pressed on two miles eastward, reaching a point 17 miles south-west of Saarbrucken, says a correspondent of the American Associated Press with the 3rd Army. WITHDRAWAL from st. avold The Germans fought stubbornly for St. Avoid, which is an important communications centre, but withdrew during the night. Our troops after entering the town without opposition continued along the road to Forbach and were last reported to be probing for contact with the retreating enemy. The Basle correspondent of Reuter’s says that as a result of determined counter-attacks the Germans recaptured Kembs and two other villages and cut the Basle-Mulhouse road in several places, The Americans’ advance in eastern Lorraine has deprived the enemy of a munition works covering about 10

acres and employing nearly 1000 workers, which daily shipped many truckloads of shells to German units, states a correspondent of The Times on the Metz front. The enemy hastily evacuated the machinery before the American infantry overran walled trench channels dating from the last war with which the works were surrounded. The hills, among which the works stand, were covered with more than 1,000,000 shells and bombs of every kind bearing, besides German manufacturing marks, those of British, American, Czech, Russian, Polish and Finnish makers—all sent there for conversion to enemy use. They ranged from three-ton block-busters to hand grenades. There were also big sea mines and heavy naval shells.