FRONTIER AGAIN CROSSED

Southland Times, Issue 25549, 18 December 1944, Page 5

FRONTIER AGAIN CROSSED

Forces Of U.S. 7th Army (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, December 17. Lieutenant-General G. S. Pattons forces made another crossing of the German frontier yesterday in the region of Habkirchen, and now hold a 40-miles front inside Germany, the deepest penetration being eight miles in the Dillingen sector. Reuter’s correspondent at 3rd Army Headquarters reports that German artillery fire increased today against Lieutenant-General Patton’s two bitterly contested bridgeheads across the Saar at Dillingen and Saarlautern. The fighting in the Dillingen bridgehead is going on around a large church. The Americans north of Habkirchen, during the night threw back a German tank and infantry counter-attack. Lieutenant-General Alexander M. Patch’s troops have now made four crossings of the Palatinate border between Wissemburg and Lauterburg. The Siegfried defences are reported to be strong in the Wissemburg area where the American 7th Army is either across or close to the frontier along a 17-mile stretch. New panzer units are offering stubborn resistance and heavy fighting is reported along a five-mile front west of Lauterburg. German guns in this sector are subjecting the Americans to heavy fire. GERMANS NERVOUS The Germans in the Ruhr are showing signs of great nervousness, states the correspondent of the Associated Press of America with the 21st Army Group. Allied planes today spotted large German transport movements in the area, suggesting that the enemy is reinforcing his defences against a possible British attack. German patrols last night raided a British outpost east of Venlo, but were thrown back. It is disclosed that the American Ist Army has buried 17,000 Germans since D Day. Berlin radio announced that all railway travel is banned throughout Germany between December 22 and 26, except with special police permission. GERMAN CASUALTIES HEAVY War Of Attrition In West (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, December 16. German battle casualties are from three to five times greater than the American casualties, said LieutenantGeneral Omar N. Bradley, Commander of the 12th Army Group, at a Press conference at his headquarters. The Allied drive was being pressed on because the Germans could not long stand the heavy rate of attrition. He added that the offensives which the Ist, 3rd and 9th Armies began last month were a paying proposition so far, even though they had turned out to be a slugging match without the full use of bombers. “If we had three months of good weather it would make a whale of a difference, but we are going ahead as best we can, because time is playing in favour of the enemy,” he said. Lieutenant-General Bradley warned against over-optimism. “We are now suffering from the optimism of August, September and October and the war is being prolonged because of it,” he added. CIVILIAN EVACUATION OF COLOGNE (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 16. . Almost the entire population of the Rhineland is fleeing before the advancing British and American armies, according to refugees reaching Switzerland from Cologne, says Reuter’s Zurich correspondent. Hundreds are unabie to find transport and are fleeing on foot and scores are dying from exposure as a result of capping out

under appalling winter conditions. Scores more are dying of hunger. Ration cards are no longer issued in Cologne, so starvation is the inevitable fate of those resisting the Government’s evacuation order.