The Waikato Times THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1944. BRILLIANT COMBINED OPERATION

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22459, 21 September 1944, Page 4

The Waikato Times THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1944. BRILLIANT COMBINED OPERATION

The British Second Army’s thrust from the Escaut Canal to the Rhine at Nijmegen in record time was a military operation about which strategists will enthuse for generations. The terrain presented extraordinary difficulties for ground forces. It is closely intersected with canals, and by destroying the bridges as they retired the Germans could have made the Allied progress slow and painful. Here was a battlefield made for the employment of airborne forces. While the Second Army banked up in tremendous strength across the Escaut Canal the great sky trains were prepared in Britain. Without warning thousands of fully equipped men dropped from the sky and seized the vital bridges in a wide and deep area before the British Army. Then the Second British Army swept forward in imposing array and dashed over 30 miles in five hours from Eindhoven to Nijmeden, seven miles from the German border. This was only the first phase of an operation which is proceeding. The Germans were placed in a position of extraordinary difficulty. If they destroyed the bridges deep in their rear they would cut off their own means of retreat. If they failed to destroy the bridges they were seized and held by airborne troops. The operation is extremely important for several reasons. Again the Allies have placed themselves between the Germans in much of western Holland and Germany. A diversion from Nijmegen to the Zuider Zee would ensircle the greater part of southern Holland. In any case the Germans remaining on the coast of northern France, Belgium and Holland must resume their dreary trek to the north with little hope of escaping to Germany. Further, the British Second Army is reaching a position where it could turn eastward into Germany through negotiable country, outflanking the Siegfried Line. This brilliant combined operation has substantially altered the whole outlook on the western front. The slowing down of the advance on the Siegfried Line and on the Escaut Canal was giving Germans some hope that they might hold these lines until the arrival of winter. The First Airborne Army has made possible the re-open-ing of the northern part of the front and will compel the Germans to rush such reserves as they may possess to the frontier with northern Holland. The active western front is being extended to such proportions that to defend it successfully the Germans will require a vast number of men and great quantities of equipment. To add to their troubles, Denmark has chosen this psychological moment to cause widespread disturbances, compelling the Germans to police the whole country. Norfh-western Europe is increasingly catching the limelight. If the Siegfried Line holds for a time the north-west may become the main focal point of the attack on Germany.