ALLIES MOVING IN WEST

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23115, 1 February 1945, Page 5

ALLIES MOVING IN WEST

Full-Sized Flare-Up Reported

Three Miles Of Siegfried Line Captured

By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright (Received 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, January 30.

REPORTING a full-sized flare-up on the Western Front from the Maas to north of Luxembourg, a German war reporter said the Canadians had increased their attacks against the German Maas bridgehead. The Roer bridgehead, also the St. Vith sector, came alive with major fighting. The Allies on both sides of St. Vith have gone over to the attack after a powerful artillery preparation. Only the steadfastness of the German Grenadiers made it possible for breaches to be sealed. A large-scale offensive can be expected between Liege and Aachen.

Lieutenant-General C. H. Hodges’ white-clad infantry captured three miles of the Siegfried Line in a new surprise attack through waist-deep snowdrifts in Monschau Forest, three miles inside Germany, stated the correspondent of the Associated Press, cabling from Lammersdorf, Germany, to-day. The correspondent of the British United Press at American First Army Headquarters described the troops as over-running some of the outposts of the old Siegfried Line. “They advanced as much as four miles at certain points.”

The correspondent added that the attack now appears to be developing into a full-scale offensive toward the Siegfried Line. The Germans are only attempting to hold what they consider to be strategic towns and crossroads so that they may pull back into the so-called new Siegfried Line, which is some four miles east of the old one. It is clear that the Germans are becoming discouraged as well as tired as news of the Russian successes seeps among them.

The correspondent of the British United Press with the First Army says that attacks along the whole sector are going well. Many of the 200 prisoners taken complained bitterly of lack of artillery support. The Americans encountered some self-propelled guns but no tanks. It is noticeable that along most of the Western Front where the Americans attacked there is an almost complete lack of enemy armour. The Third Army’s bridgehead on the Our River now stretches four miles along the eastern bank, stated Reuter’s correspondent with the Third Army. The correspondent of “The Times” on the Ardennes front says the attack across the Our River, which put the Americans into Germany at a new point, is going well. The crossing was made in the face of strong resistance. The outer fortifications of the West Wall lie among the hills on the far side of the Our River. Many of these outlying pillboxes were over-run in September when units of the First Army thrust into Germany. The Third Army now holds a bridghead on German soil two miles long and three-quarters of a mile deep along the east bank of the Our. River in an area eight miles south of St. Vith.

Enemy Sacrificing Troops

The correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency on the Western Front reports that the American First Army made further advances along its front to-day. He says: “It is becoming increasingly clear that the Germans have either withdrawn or are withdrawing hurriedly to the Siegfried Line and are prepared to sacrifice such troops as are left behind." Reuter’s correspondent at FieldMarshal Sir Bernard Montgomery’s Headquarters reports that Mosquitoes last night resumed the offensive against enemy transport retreating from the Western Front. They attacked a fairly heavy movement east of the west coast area of Northern Holland above the Maas.

A correspondent at Supreme Allied Headquarters reports that the Allied air forces in seven days to last Saturday destroyed 4259 motor transport vehicles moving eastwards from the Ardennes bulge and damaged nearly 4000 more

The German News Agency this afternoon stated that Allied troops were trying to force a crossing over the Roer River eight miles north-east of Geilenkirchen. The United States First Army, continuing its attack between Malmedy and the frontier, gained nearly two miles on Tuesday and more advances by the French First Army threaten Colmar. The Americans attacked at night north of St. Vith and by mid-morning were within three miles of the frontier.

Three villages east of Bullange were taken and further south the Americans are only a mile from the frontier north-west of Prum.

Continuing their blows along the Our River the United States Third Army further south captured Stupbach, seven miles south of St. Vith, while others crossed the river under artillery fire and captured Welchenhausen, a mile further south. They now have a bridgehead across the river in Germany, three-quarters of a mile deep on a front of two miles. North-west of Vianden other troops of the Third Army advanced almost a mile. Fresh gains by American and French troops around Colmar have brought them to points where they threaten the town from tiro sides. Naval Activity British naval units are at present engaged in operations on a small scale against the enemy among the islands north of Walcheren, stated Admiral Sir Harold Burrough at his first Press conference at Supreme Allied Headquarters since taking over his new post of Allied Naval Commander-in-Cnief in succession to the late Admiral Ramsay. Admiral Burrough said that operations had been in progress for a month. The coast of Germany and of the remainder of Western Europe still occupied by the enemy offered opportunities for the use of seapower such as the assault against Walcheren, which turned the key to the port of Antwerp. A number of ports, including Rotterdam, Bremen, and Hamburg, would have to be cleared and rehabilitated when the enemy was driven from the coasts or collapsed. British and American naval parties for this work had been formed and were being trained. Admiral Burrough said that the salvage work in such ports would be immense, because the enemy had not only blocked the harbour entrances but had also sunk ships of every size alongside the quays and destroyed the cranes, toppling them over into the docks. Twenty-six sunken ships of all sorts blocked the entrance to Boulogne harbour and at Rouen. Among the block ships sunk across the Seine below the port was one of 11,000 tons. Mentioning that we had had one or two brushes with E-boats in recent weeks, Admiral Burrough gave a warning that more must be expected. Forecasting a new large-scale battle on the Western Front within the next few days, a military spokesman quoted the German News Agency, which said that the fighting had been growing m intensity in the last 24 hours. The Allied armies facing Germany probably included 20 to 25 tank divisions, totalling 3000 to 4000 tanks, and 30 to 35 infantry divisions. Six American divisions are now moving- on the Siegfried Line on a 30-mile front from north of Monschau to the Luxembourg frontier. It is too early to describe it as an allout assault, says the “Daily Mail,” but it appears to be the biggest yet directed against Germany since von Rundstedt’s Ardennes break-through.