AT DELTA OF RHINE

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22456, 18 September 1944, Page 3

AT DELTA OF RHINE

ARMADA OF 1000 AIRCRAFT BRITISH TROOPS ACROSS DUTCH FRONTIER “TOUCHER THAN SIEGFRIED LINE” (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received September 18, 10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 17. Strong forces of the First Allied Airborne Army landed in Holland this afternoon. The landing was carried out by General Brereton’s forces following an aerial onslaught. The exact locations of the landing have not been disclosed but the German News Agency says strong Allied airborne forces landed in the areas of Tilburg, Eindhoven and Nijmegen. German forces immediately went into action. The Allied operations are described as another attempt to smash the German barrier position between the mouth of the Scheldt and the Meuse. The News Agency added that the Allied armies, protected by a vast air umbrella, landed at noon. The paratroops were followed by landings from countless gliders. Reuter’s military correspondent says it is possible the operation is aimed at leap-frogging the great water belt which separates the northern and southern Netherlands. This line is far tougher for the attackers than the Siegfried Line and is described as the Germans’ strongest defence line in western Europe. British, American and Allied airborne troops, including Dutch special troops, participated in the air invasion. Hundreds of Allied planes supported the operation before and after the landings, attacking enemy positions, airfields, barracks and anti-air-craft gun sites. The weather over Holland was clear, with good visibility. About 850 Flying Fortresses, escorted by about 100 Mustangs, attacked enemy anti-aircraft positions. No enemy planes were encountered. More than 1000 gliders, troop-carrying planes and towing planes participated in the landing. Spitfires and Typhoons provided an operational escort. This is the first airborne operation by General Eisenhower’s forces since the original descents on the Cherbourg Peninsula and in the area of the Orne river on “ D Day.” Patriots living south of the Leek and the Rhine rivers were today urged to fully assist the Allied forces. The people in some of England’s Home Counties today saw one of the greatest displays of Allied air might since the outbreak of the war. Swarms of gliders and transport planes for hours roared towards Holland. Watchers gathered along the coast and cheered as the huge formations flew over. The whole sky was full of machines. The return procession began several hours later.

Great masses of Bomber Command Halifaxes and Lancasters in strength attacked the port of Boulogne and dropped more than 3500 tons of bombs.

Latest information is that the airborne invasion is going well according to plan. Several towns near the German border have been cleared. The Germans are putting up stiff opposition.

STORY BY EYE=WITNESS GERMANS TAKEN BY SURPRISE VERY LITTLE OPPOSITION MET (Received Sept. 18, 11.40 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 17 Paratroopers and glider-borne infantrymen of the First Allied Airborne Army surprised the German defenders and landed with negligible opposition in Holland to-day in the first employment of this mighty combined weapon since its formation a little more than a month ago, says an American Press correspondent with the Airborne Army over Holland on September 17. Thousands of parachutists were dropped from hundreds of transport planes. The multi-coloured parachutes glittered gaily in the bright noonday sun as they fluttered to earth with men, arms and supplies. In tight, low formations these sky trains slipped over the coast of Holland from the North Sea and reached the drop area before the Nazis, who were caught flat-footed, had manned the anti-aircraft guns. By the time that second and third formations began dropping light flak was shooting up into the sky fleets, but we saw not a single German fighter. Hundreds of our fighters circled round our long sky train, which extended for miles in straight lines. Paratroopers were dropped into fields flanking a Dutch town and judging from the ease which we took them in they should be able to assemble quickly and carry out their ground objectives. Earlier Plans Scrapped Since this army has been formed earlier plans for operation have been scrapped because the ground troops advanced too quickly or the weather closed in Parachuted supplies fell neatly and closely together. The Gemans began to send up flak and the lift of the plane from bursts under us sent us- homeward. We have already seen enough to know that the Germans will soon have to battle another army on the Siegfried Line. The only sign of Germans that we saw was a column of Red Cross trucks. The paratroopers on the night of “* September 16 were in high spirits at the carrier bases where they bivouacked. They wei'fe all eager for the jump, believing that it will shorten the war. A private from Michigan who previously jumped in Sicily, Salerno 7 and France said: “But I want to make my last jump over Berlin.” The British United Press correspondent at the Eighth Air Force Headquarters said that the fighter pilots in the vanguard of the airborne invasion had a grandstand view of the actual dropping of the paratroopers. One of them said: “The • paratroops dropped from their planes as if shot from guns. Frequently I could see upwards of 400 in the air. I could not see anyone on roads in the vicinity of the drop area except a few civilians watching and waving.” At Roof-top Height Another fighter pilot described the landing of the gliders: “The gliders crowded up the fields almost wingtip to wing-tip. I watched one coming in for a landing head for a small open space between two others. There was so little room that I was sure he would not make it safely, but the glider pilot just set down the machine with about six inches clearance on either side.” Fighters swarmed down on enemy gun emplacements. They carried fragmentation bombs and extra ammunition and frequently operated at roof-top height. Reuter’s correspondent, who flew in one of tht tow planes, said: “The

DARING INVASION PLAN CONDITIONS JUST RIGHT FIERCE BATTLES IN AIR (Received Sept. 17, noon) LONDON, Sept. 17 The only reports so far received of enemy air opposition come from a British United Press correspondent, who said that some fighter . pilots radioed a running commentary to their headquarters of fierce air battles over the invasion area. They reported that Mustangs destroyed at least five Focke-Wulf 190’s. The German fighters dived from the clouds against the glider formation and then turned and climbed into cloud cover. They repeated these tactics several times. One of our pilots claimed the destruction of three of seven enemy planes which attacked the section of the fighter cover which he was leading. One American radio reporter who flew over the invasion area stated: “We had been expecting the airborne invasion for some time. Today conditions were right. “This operation was one of the most daring attempted during the campaign in western Europe, but the paratroops participating were not suicide troops. They will be fighting on when the Allied troops over which they flew today link up with them.” THREAT TO GERMANS HEAVY POUNDING FROM AIR DESTRUCTION AT AIRFIELDS (OlTlclal Wireless) (Received Sept. 18, noon) RUGBY, Sept. 17 A correspondent says: The invasion is a definite threat to the Germans’ hope of anchoring their right flank against the sea in an area where there is a network of watercourses and inundated areas to render difficult Allied ground progress. As part of the air hammering preceding the assault from the sky 200 Lancasters and Mosquitoes attacked airfields in Holland and Germany last; night, with good results, and during the night Bomber Command heavy bombers and a small force of Mosqutoes attacked enemy targets in the Dortmund area of the Ruhr. Late on Saturday afternoon Marauders and Havocs attacked dykes north of the Scheldt. Just before landing the airborne forces a big strafing attack was made by Mosquitoes on German troops and barracks in the region ahead of the dropping zones. Field-Marshal von Rundstedt, who was relieved of the post of German Commander-in-Chief in France after the St. Lo break-through, is reported to be again commanding the German Army in the West. landings were carried out under ideal troop-carrier weather—perfect target visibility, with the clouds just low enough to provide some cover for the carriers. I was most impressed with what might be termed the uneventfulness of the entire operation. Later it was described as ‘eminently satisfactory,’ with losses practically negligible in view of the j size of the operation.” A combined press representative from somewhere in Holland, in a despatch on the night of September 17, stated that fifty strong units of the First Allied Airborne Army swooped down near the German border. The losses from flak were small, strong fighter and bomber support ensuring the success of the operation.