VICIOUS ENEMY ATTACKS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23013, 3 October 1944, Page 5

VICIOUS ENEMY ATTACKS

Allies Holding Their Ground Battle For Nijmegen Opened By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright (Received 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 1. THE GERMANS IN THE STOLBERG AREA STAGED THREE COUNTER-ATTACKS IN DRIZZLING RAIN AND POOR VISIBILITY, BUT FAILED TO ACHIEVE ANY NOTABLE SUCCESS, STATES ' THE CORRESPONDENT OF REUTER’S IN A DISPATCH FILED AT 5.30 P.M. TO-DAY FROM THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE UNITED STATES FIRST ARMY. The Germans south-west of Prum launched a vicious assault against the American positions. They used flamethrowers as they followed up one of the heaviest German artillery barrages. The enemy forced the Americans to yield some ground, also a pillbox in the Siegfried Line, but the Americans subsequently regained the ground and the pillbox. The correspondent of the British United Press with the Seventh Army says that a savage jungle-type of warfare is progressing in the wooded foothills of the Vosges. German snipers and machine-gunners are guarding the forest trails with fanaticism, the infantry frequently fighting at pistol range. The Germans in this area laid mines haphazardly in fields, roads and clearings in the forest, but the Americans, in spite of all the difficulties, are gradually edging toward the Rhine. French civilians who slipped through the German lines from Belfort say that the Germans have massed 10 divisions in the Belfort area. They have mobilised Frenchmen throughout the area for forced labour on earthworks and other fortifications protecting the gap. The battle for Nijmegen opened to-day with large enemy counter-attacks with tanks and infantry, says a correspondent with the British Second Army to-night. It was launched south of Arnhem. Enemy tanks and infantry crossed the bridge at Huissen over the Pennerdensch Canal. The attack did not come as a surprise to our troops, as enemy tanks and troops were observed massing for the battle. > Bad weather at first prevented the Air Force lending support, but later rocket-Typhoons and bomber-Typhoons went in to strafe the armour and infantry positions, j

The Germans are counter-at-tacking heavily in the Huisen area about eight miles north o£ Nijmegen, where the Allied corridor running to the Arnhem is about 10 miles wide, states the correspondent of Reuter’s with the British Second Army in a dispatch filed at 5.30 p.m. to-day. Allied rofket-firing Typhoons are again smashing against German tanks and infantry that are attempting to advance south. This attack is believed to be another desperate attempt to smash the bridgehead at Nijmegen. Typhoons caught the Germans at Pannerdensch Canal, running northwest from the Waal to the Neder Rhine. It remains to be seen whether this counter-attack is being co-ordin-ated with the other enemy onslaught from the area of the Reichswald Forest to the south-west. A correspondent of the British United Press says that the German attack at Huisen follows similar smaller attacks in the same area in the last 24 hours. Clearly the Germans are still hoping to eliminate the British salient. The Germans were first reported to be crossing the Pannerdensch Canal this morning. They were still developing the counter-attack late this afternoon, but our Typhoons may have taken the sting from it. Fighting is stiffening all around our salient, but this battle is most significant, as the Germans there are trying to cut off the point of the Allied arrow directed at Berlin. Bitter Local Engagements The fighting elsewhere in Holland is not a battle with a frontline. It is a series of bitter local engagements against groups of German fanatics moving suddenly from copses, also against groups of tanks which are hurled against the British. It is officially stated that there are no signs of the Germans withdrawing from either the area between the Zuider Zee and Arnhem or the area north-east of Antwerp. The result of the present fighting in Holland may decide the length of the war—the Germans are trying to contain and harass the Allies sufficiently to necessitate a winter campaign. They are using a large percentage ef battle-tried troops who are seeking no quarter, but are prepared to redden the banks of the Dutch canals with their blood in order to give Hitler a few extra months. The correspondent of the Associated Press says that the British on the west flank of General Sir Miles Dempsey’s corridor advanced several miles against the strongly-defended German sector south of the town of Os. Bitter fighting is in progress, with the Germans battling fiercely for every foot of ground. It is revealed that United States airborne troops were dropped in Holland, and are now fighting side by side with the British Second Army in the Dutch corridor. The Berlin radio says that armies estimated to total 3,000,000 men are now locked in battle along a front of 300 miles from Arnhem to the Alps. General Elsenhower is using four armies, two of which have opened offensives on a grand scale. The Germans are fighting back doggedly at danger-points. The German News Agency commentator (von Platow) said that the British were trying to widen the bridgehead in the Nijmegen area, where the fighting to-day assumed major proportions. The Canadians in the south of Holland caused heavier fighting when they enlarged their bridgehead north of Oostmalle and established themselves north-west of Turnhout. Without Success "The Germans directed two counterattacks against our positions in the corridor, without success," says a correspondent with the British Second Afmy. “The first was west of the corridor and south-west of Hertogenbosch, and the other south-east of Nijmegen, where the raiding party “merged from Reichswald Forest only to be driven back with losses. The Germans are placing good-quality troops in the extreme north and lesser grade infantry on the west of the salient. |

“British tanks drove forward on the eastern flank between Deume and the Meuse for the purpose of clearing up the enemy salient, and made progress into enemy-held territory, against lightly-held defences. “On the west of the base of the salient infantry of the Canadian Army followed up and captured Merxplex, five miles north of Turnhout and made further progress north.” Allied pilots report that the enemy is moving more powerful units north with the object of defending the crossing of the Lower Rhine at the expense of troops holding the line along the corridor. A correspondent at Supreme Allied Headquarters,’writing this afternoon, said the position in the First and 21st army group sectors remains practically unchanged, and the only detailed reports are from the area of the Seventh Army and the French Army. Between this point and Epinal we are clearing the outskirts of Grandvillers. Due east of Epinal we made still further advances against intense artillery fire in the area of Le Roulier. Resistance is ' stiffening, and here and there the Germans are taking the initiative in counter-attack measures. The strongest of these was at Le Thillot and near Ronchamp, which are on the Lure-Belfort road. Between Champagney ,and le Thillot French troops in a local action succeeded in wiping out. a complete company of bicycle troops. In the area of the Germans made a night attack near Briancon and made some penetrations, but were eventually thrown back, suffering considerable casualties. Defensive Battle A German High Command statement, quoted by the Berlin radio, states that a defensive battle in the area of the Lorraine frontier and before the Belfort Gap is now progressing in full blast. The Americans in the last few days have been launching unremitting attacks supported by massed artillery against the wooded regions south-east of Luneville and south of Rambervillers. A particularly grim struggle is in progress on a 37-mile front in the foothills of the western Vosges. Our counter-attacks pinned down the enemy and considerably reduced the ground from which he hoped to attack Belfort. The German News Agency commentator, Platoon, said that as a result of the most recent fighting, we lost Ranibervillers. The American Third and Seventh Armies’ full-scale attacks were continuing with mounting ferocity. The Canadians to-day reached the Belgian-Dutch frontier south-west of Tilburg says a correspondent of Reuter’s with the First Canadian Army. The Canadians are now poised for entry into Holland, apparently against diminishing German resistance. Other Canadian units, driving to the border farther west, captured Brecht. The Second Army now holds Best, but the Germans are still dug in along the railway on the western outskirts of the town, says Supreme' Allied Headquarters. Active patrolling continues along the Leopold Canal, behind which there are still about 15,000 Germa: Relatively little progress has be-n made west of Turnhout across th-> Antwerp-Turnhout Canal, where the opposition has stiffened. Along the American front local advances have been made south-east of Stolberg, also south-west of Prum, where eight German fortified points have been destroyed. Several counter-attacks in the Metz area have been repulsed. The Second Tactical Air Force shot down 31 German fighters for the loss of four in a series of dogfights in the ArnhemNijmegen area. Allied troops have strengthened the Dutch salient by an advance north of Os, which cleared the enemy from the banks of the Maas River, says to-day’s communique from Supreme Allied Headquarters. North-east of Nijmegen we repulsed attacks from enemy Infantry and armour. To the southwest, our forces, making further progress west of Turnhout, captured the village of Breche, and are three miles north of Merxplas. Fighters and |<fiz;hter-bombers attacked troop con-

centrations, guns and transportation targets in support of our ground forces in Holland. Other fighters flew offensive patrols. Active patrolling was maintained along the German border from Aachen to South-eastern Luxembourg. Our troops in the area north-east of Nancy advanced into the Foret de Gremecev and occupied high ground around Fresnes en Saunois, 15 miles north-east of Nancy, and Coutures, two miles to the south-east. We repulsed a strong counter-attack near Hallaucourt. Local gains were made in the Epinal sector against strong resistance. Artillery fire was particularly heavy. The town of St. Jean du Marche, 11 miles east of Epinal. is in our hands.