GF-MAN COUNTER BLOWS

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22468, 2 October 1944, Page 5

GF-MAN COUNTER BLOWS

DESPERATE ENEMY EFFORTS ! TYPHOONS IN ACTION (Received October 2, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, October 1. The Germans are counter-attack-ing heavily in the Huisen area, about eight miles north of Nijmegen, where the Allied corridor running to Arnhem is about ten miles wide, states Reuter’s correspondent with the! British Second Army in a despatch j from the field today. Allied rocket- j firing Typhoons are again smashing against the Germans’ tanks and in- | fantry attempting to advance south- j ward. This attack is believed to be j another desperate German attempt to smash the Nijmegen bridgehead. The Typhoons caught the Germans ' at the Pannerdensch canal, running ] north-west from the Waal to the j Lower Rhine. It remains to be seen I whether this German counter-attack j is being co-ordinated with other en- j emy onslaughts from the area of the j Reichswald forest to the southeast. ; The British United Press corres- i pondent says that the German attack ! at Huisen follows similar smaller attacks in the same area in the past 24 hours. The Germans clearly are < still hoping to eliminate the British i salient. The Germans were first reported to be crossing the Pannerdensch canal this morning. They were still developing the counter-attack late in the afternoon, but our Typhoons may • have taken the sting from it. J Vicious Assault The Germans in the Stolberg area j staged three counter-attacks in driz- 1 zling rain and poor visibility, but j failed to achieve any notable sue- : cess, states Reuter’s correspondent in ; a despatch from the headquarters of ; the United States First Army. The Germans south-west of Prum I launched a fierce and vicious assault ! against the American positions. They ! used flame-throwers as they fol- j lowed up one of the heaviest German i artillery barrages. The enemy forced | the Americans to yield some ground, i also a pillbox in the Siegfried Line. | but the Americans subsequently re- j gained the ground and the pillbox. | The British United Press’ corres- | pondent with the Seventh Army says ] that savage, jungle-type warfare is progressing in the wooded foothills of the Vosges. German snipers and machine-gunners are guarding the forest trails with fanaticism, the infantry frequently fighting at pistolrange. The Germans in this area laid mines haphazardly in fields, roads and clearings in the forest, but the Americans, despite all difficulties, are gradually edging towards the! Rhine. French civilians who slipped through the German lines from Bel- I fort say that the Germans have massed ten divisions in the Belfort area. They have mobilised Frenchmen throughout the area for forced labour on earthworks and other fortifications protecting the gap. Tanks Drive Forward The Germans are placing goodquality troops in the extreme north and lesser grade infantry on the west of the salient. British tanks drove forward on the eastern flank between Duerne and the Meuse for the pur- j pose of clearing up the enemy salient and made progress into enemyheld territory against lightly held defences. On the west of the salient base Canadian Army infantry followed up and 'captured Merxplex, five miles north of Turnhout, and made further progress north. Allied pilots report that the enemy is moving more powerful troops north, with the object of defending the lower Rhine crossing at the expense of the troops holding the line along the corridor. A Supreme Headquarters correspondent, writing this afternoon, said that the position in the First and Twenty-first Army Group sectors remains practically unchanged and the only detailed reports are from the area of the Seventh Army and the French Army. Between this point and Epinal we are clearing the outskirts of Grandvillers. Due east of Epinal we have made further advances against intense artillery fire in the area of Le Roulier. Between Champagney and Le Thillot French troops in a local action succeeded in wiping out a complete company of bicycle troops. In the area of the Alps the Germans made a night attack near Briancon and made some penetrations, but eventually were thrown back, suffering considerable casualties. Arrow Pointed at Berlin Fighting is stiffening all around our salient, but this battle at the salient’s northern tip is the most significant, as the Germans there are

trying to cut off the point of the j Allied arrow directed at Berlin. 1 Fighting elsewhere in Holland is ! not a battle with a front-line. It is j a series of bitter local engagements against groups of German fanatics, moving suddenly from copses, also against groups of tanks which are hurled against the British. It is officially stated that there is no sign of the Germans withdrawing from either the area between the Zuider Zee and Arnhem or from the area north-east of Antwerp. \ The result of the present j fighting in Holland may decide j the length of the war—the Germans are trying to contain and j haras? the Allies sufficiently to j necessitate a winter campaign. They are using a large percentj age of battle-tried troops, who j are asking no quarter but are i prepared to redden the banks of ! the Dutch canals with their blood in order to give Hitler a few extra months. The American Press’ correspondj ent says that the British on the west ! flank of General Dempsey’s corridor I advanced several miles against the ! strongly defended German sector : south of the town of Os. Bitter fighting is progressing, with the Germans 1 battling fiercely for every foot of i ground. 3,000,000 Men Engaged It is revealed that United States airborne troops dropped in Holland j are now fighting side by side with : the British Second Army in the 1 Dutch corridor. The Berlin radio says that armies I estimated at 3,000,000 men are now i locked in battle along a 300-mile , front from Arnhem to the Alps. Gen- ! eral Eisenhower is using four arm- ! ies, two of which have opened grandi scale offensives. The Germans are j fighting back doggedly at danger points. I The German news agency com- ; mentator, von Platow, said that the i British are trying to widen the j bridgehead in the Nijmegen area, ; where fighting today assumed major j proportions. The Canadians in south I Holland caused heavier fighting when j they enlarged their bridgehead north of Oostmalle and established themj selves north-west of Turnhout.