‘WOMEN OF THE WOODS’

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22467, 30 September 1944, Page 5

‘WOMEN OF THE WOODS’

GERMAN* TERROR TACTICS BATTLE ON WESTERN FRONT (Received Sept. 20, 1 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 29 The fiercest fignting on the Moselle front is going on in the vast Foret tie Parroy, which is the nearest thing to a jungle that can be found in western Europe, says a Daily Express correspondent with the American Third Army. The front line surges back and forth as first the Americans attacic and then the Germans counter-attack in the clear, cold days which already presage a bitter winter. German infantry and tanks sally out from their forest lairs, sometimes in the daytime but more often at night, to strike against the American flank and communications. The presence of the Germans in the forest gives the fighting a mysterious and sinister character. The Germans with their peculiar bent for melodramatic terror tactics are exploiting the denseness and darkness of their hideout by attacking American outposts in the guise cl wildmen of the woods. The Germans repeatedly rush out of the forest screaming and brandishing fixed bayonets. Their skilfully camouflaged tanks slip through the trees like metallic jungle beasts. Their move from place to place within the forested area. The German headquarters, command posts and bivouacs are prob-

ably all merged into this massive ,- woodland. Theiefore the Foret de Parroy may prove to be a fortress as hard to oreak as at the Metz forests, which hold the German line north of this sector. The American Third Army has captured nearly 1,000,000 tons of German explosives in France and the enemy is forced to use bombs and r hells for demolition charges on bridges, says an American Press correspondent on the Moselle front. The Argonne Forest yielded the biggest haul of 700,000 tons, complete with and caps.