BREACH IN SIEGFRIED LINE

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22456, 18 September 1944, Page 2

BREACH IN SIEGFRIED LINE

Breaching the main Siegfried Line east of Aachen apparently without great difficulty, the Allies have brought Germany face to face with disaster. When the last defences of the line are cleared Allied armour will flood through into the Rhineland and reach the last barrier to the heart of Germany. There is no reason to expect that the Rhine will be an impassable obstacle. Germany is in grave danger and her people know it. The Siegfried Line is apparently not even comparable with the Maginot Line. There is evidence that the Germans did not have the blind faith in it that the French placed in their defences before 1940 because they have been preparing the Rhine as a second line of defence. The water barrier of the Rhine will present the greatest difficulty, but the Russians have demonstrated that the largest rivers can be crossed in the face of opposition. It should not be imagined that the Siegfried Line has yet been cleared. There are no doubt still further defences in depth to be pierced, but the fact that a great gap has been torn in the main line suggests that the Germans cannot stop the Allied avalanche. The Americans are proving themselves good soldiers and their command of the finest equipment available has given them an undoubted superiority over the famous German Army. The weapons they have used on the Siegfried Line may set a precedent in military history. When the Siegfried Line is cleared the war in Western Europe may develop very quickly. The Germans inside their own country are unlikely to be even as strong as on their main outer defences, and every yard of ground they lose will detract from their ability to withstand the Allied battering and the blockade. Events of the past few days will strengthen the hope that the war in Europe may be ended before the arrival of winter.