GREAT GERMAN ACTIVITY

Southland Times, Issue 25565, 8 January 1945, Page 5

GREAT GERMAN ACTIVITY

RHINE CROSSED NEAR STRASBOURG (Rec. 9.45 p.m.) LONDON, January 7. German patrols at night crossed the Rhine north of Strasbourg in undetermined strength, says a correspondent of the Associated Press of America with the United States 7th Army. The Germans, pressing south from Bitsche, are now 15 miles inside France. They have infiltrated into Wingen, four miles south-west of Reipertsweiler, and near the Saarguemines-Hagenau road and railway. The correspondent of The Times at SHAEF says the operations on the western front present a confusing study, calling for austere thinking and all our faith in the ultimate success of the Allied arms. The enemy operations in the north Vosges are developing into an offensive that might engulf Saverne and, for the time being at least, make the Allied position in Strasbourg untenable,. adds the correspondent. GERMAN CLAIMS A German High Command announcement says the Germans made a 25-mile breach of the Maginot Line and captured 100 localities in the last 24 hours. The Allies brought up reinforcements by forced marches and their forces launched attacks from Roerbach and the eastern fringe of the lower Vosges. Lieutenant-General G. S. Pattons forces on Sunday night made a twomile withdrawal in the Michamps area and a one-mile withdrawal around Wardin, in an action described as “orderly,” says a correspondent of the Associated Press. The operation extended along a three-mile front, northeast to south-east of Bastogne. The Americans took up strong defensive positions on high ground a couple of miles outside Bastogne. This move reduced the width of the Bastogne salient from six and a-half to three and a-half miles in the face of a very heavy concentration of German forces. i ENEMY SPEARHEADS The commentator of the German News Agency at Field Marshal von Runstedt’s headquarters says that on the southern sector the Germans have broken through the Maginot Line on a front of at least 25 miles, throwing back American 7th Army formations. The most advanced German spearhead reached a point about 20 miles south of the old German frontier. The German News Agency also says that the Canadians north-west of Nijmegen attacked the township of Hemme, about seven miles north-west of Nijmegen, with flame-throwing tanks. The Canadians, at the price of heavy casualties, succeeded in penetrating to the ruins of the township. The agency adds that the German garrison at Wanssum, 12 miles north of Venlo, has repelled all British attacks.