HANOVER UNDER THREAT

Southland Times, Issue 25642, 9 April 1945, Page 5

HANOVER UNDER THREAT

Advance Of British Armour (8.0.W.) RUGBY, April 8. Hanover, the important industrial and communication city east of the river Weser, is now under a direct threat from British armour spearheads supported by columns approaching from the west and United States 9th Army spearheads from the south, says a correspondent at Field-Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery’s headquarters. British forward units are now probably less than 20 miles from the city’s outskirts with Lieutenant-General William H. Simpson’s troops even nearer. The latest 9th Army correspondent’s reports put the latter troops at 11 miles from Hanover. North-west of the Weser, British tanks, led by the 11th Hussars, are no more than 20 miles south of Bremen. Without opposition of any importance British tanks made advances today in several regions, varying from eight to 10 miles. Field-Marshal Montgomery’s armour is now driving into northwest Germany, not matched as yet by any Panzer support of the Wehrmacht rearguards, and is more than 150 miles beyond the Rhine in some places. “DESERT RATS” ADVANCE The most interesting development today on the right wing of FieldMarshal Montgomery’s front is the great roll forward of the British 7th Armoured Division, the famous “Desert Rats.” The tanks are advancing all over the roads south of Bremen with the 11th Hussars in the van. On the still troublesome left wing, Field-Marshal Montgomery’s tanks and infantry made some advances today against stiff opposition, but improved flying weather enabled Tactical Air Force planes to blast a way over some enemy obstacles holding up the Allied troops. Canadian Army patrols are driving out of the regions of Almelo and Coevorden on the Reich-Dutch frontier, and Canadians clearing the border town of Meppen were subjected to heavy mortar and machine-gun fire. Tough Scottish infantry of the 52nd (Lowland) Division, after cracking the enemy’s stubborn point in the centre of the front before Ibbenburen, smashed down another strongpoint today in . taking Hopsten further to the north. There is still a hard defence crust between the Rhine and Osnabruck. Yesterday, the British 2nd Army took prisoner between 1500 and 2000 Germans, making a total since the start of the crossing of the Rhine of more than 32,000. The 9th Army correspondent who reported Lieutenant-General. Simpson’s troops 11 miles south of Hanover added that this advance was achieved through the crossing of the Leine River, south of Hanover by the 2nd Armoured Division, and the reaching of the highway three miles north of Hildesheim. NEW DRIVE TO EAST Meanwhile, good progress was made by the United States Ist Army infantry last night in Lieutenant-General Courtney H. Hodges’s new drive to the east. Veckerhagen, six miles north of Hannmunden, was captured against practically no opposition. On the right, other infantry scored a seven-miles advance, meeting virtually no resistance, says a correspondent. Pushing on along the Hannmunden-Nordhausen main road, infantry captured Lubach, less than two miles from Hedemunden. Armoured forces are still meeting stiff resistance in the north, and are now three miles west of Trenbelbtujg, on the River Diemel. Borgentreicg has been cleared by infantry. There is little fresh progress in the drive to clear up the Ruhr pocket. The biggest gain was a three mile advance by infantry who took Flecken, 13 miles south-west of Winter berg. These troops are a mile south-west of Schmallenberg. Others are less than a mile north-east of - that town, which looks like being encircled soon. More than 7000 prisoners were taken yesterday by the United States, Ist Army. The announcement of the capture of Hamm on the northern edge of the Ruhr was premature, says a cor-

respondent with the 9th Army, as only two-thirds of the city is so far cleared. He adds that the 9th Army yesterday created a record in the number of prisoners taken, 17.508 being counted.