Evening star., 1944-12-20
Monschau Recaptured by Yanks;
BeIqian Front Still Unstabi|ized
10000 Captured
In Offensive,
Germans Claim
BULLETIN.

PARIS Up. - A m r &C a n
troops have recaptured Mon
schau, in any, and
checked the initial impetus Of
the powerful German coun-
teroffensive which bit more
than 20 miles deep into Bel
gium. The front still was un-
stabilized tonight, however.
Heavy battles apparently
still ragged today around
Stavelot, st. With and NAL
medy.
A front dispatch said Mon
scahu, Is miles southeast of
Aachen, was retaken after
German units which entered
the town were surrounded.
Monschau was a focal point
of one of four German drives.
BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, Dec. 20.-German in
fantry today rammed in behind
swift Nazi armored columns, ad-
vancing more than 20 miles into
Belgium, but American tanks
and doughboys were holding firm
in some sectors of the Nazi
break-through channel.
One front dispatch said the situ-
alton of 1t. Gen. Courtney H.
Hodges 1st Army was officially
termed definitely better" last
night, with hardening of the Amer
lean fianks above and below the
four -pronged Nazi counteroffensive.
American tanks and tank destroyers
hit in from these sides.
Supreme headquarters partly
lifted the news blackout and dis
closed the Germans had smashed
5 to 20 miles ahead by noon Mon
day in four columns driving into
Belgium and Luxembourg.
But today the German wildcat
armored columns struck deeper into
Belgium, and Nazi infantry was be-
ginning to back up these probing
fingers "in some strength" a list
Army front dispatch said.
20 Miles Inside Belgium.
This would put the Germans more
than 20 miles into that lowland
country. The deepest disclosed pen
etration had been to Stavelot, 20
miles inside Belgium and only %
from the fortress of Liege
A front-line dispatch said Ger
man armor by pincers movement
had cut off some elements of an
American division in the area of
st. With, II miles southeast Of
Stavelot.
Some German units which crossed
into Luxembourg in the neighbor-
hood of Echternach have been sur
rounded
CThe German high command
declared that more than 10000
prisoners had been taken in the
counteroffensive and said spear
heads still were advancing.
cThe Berlin communique said
200 American tanks had been
destroyed or captured, and 124
Allied planes shot down.
GA large part of enemy bases
left behind the front were cleaned
up," the broadcast bulletin
added. Fighting ensued at many
points with single groups of en-
emy reserves which had been
hurriedly drawn up and imme-
diately brought into action"
(The communique said German
long-range weapons were firing
on Liege and Antwerp. 1t was
the first mention of Liege as
target.
(American pressure in the
Aachen and Saar areas has de-
creased, the communique said0
Column Drives On.
A middle German column has
achieved the greatest advance, dis
patches said, hammering beyond
the column that reached Stavelot.
Precise details were withheld.
The fast-ranging German mech
anized columns obviously were in
quest of American supplies, but were
reported meeting little success.
One 1st Army officer declared the
enemy had drained troops from
other sectors for this very bold"
move, and that if the counteroffen-
sive were crushed 'the war can be
won right here"
Americans knocked back numer-
Gus enemy counterattacks on the
eastern end of the northern flank,
two of them before dawn today,
east of Malmedy ''in the corridor
where infantry first met the main
force of the enemy onslaught" said
Associated Press Correspondent Will
liam Boni.
A deluge Of flying bombs accom-
panied the German blows.
American troops were holding out
IN some key towns and pockets, by
passed by the main German forces
IN this wholly fluid warfare.
The Germans were crushing into
increasingly dense defenses thrown
together by the 1st Army.
American antiaircraft guns halted
German tanks near Stavelot yester-
day, but elsewhere the armored
spearheads moved forward.
American antiaircraft gunners
| Three additional men from