Evening star., 1944-12-19
MAP on Page A-3.j

BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, Dec. 19.-American in
fantry and tanks today opened {
counterattack against the Ger
man armor-powered offensive
which had cut 20 miles into Bel.
gium, while to the north Is
Army patrols have crossed 'tht
Roer River barrier into Duren
front-line dispatches reported.
American blows to stabilize the
front were thrown in as the bold
Nazi push probed into Belgium and
Luxembourg on 60-mile front.
The 1st Army maintained pressure
on the Cologne front despite the
menacing counteroffensive. Just be-
fore noon yesterday patrols of the
S3d Divisions 329th Regiment
crossed the formidable Roer River
and pushed into Duren, stronghold
city 20 miles from Cologne.
Supreme headquarters itself i'm
posed security silence on the power
full German counteroffensive, but a
1st Army dispatch said one German
tank thrust below Monschau had
some success in frontal push" with
the Germans being contained on
some sectors.
Flanking Threat to Aachen.
The Germans were striking from
aBove Monschau to near Echter-
mach. The deep plunge into Bel
GUM carried a broad f1anking threat
to Aachen.
The German onslaught was pow
cred by massed reserves and sup
ported by new vengeance weapon
OF an undisclosed type
At one point the Nazis were &C
miles or more inside Belgium and 25
miles south and slightly west OF
Aachen. An air report told of Brit
ish Typhoons shooting up Nazi ar
mored vehicles west of Stavelot,
which lies 18 airline miles and nearly
% by road from the German border
The 1st Army line had beer
Wedged back Is miles or more al
this point. The enemy assault goug-
ing in at Stavelot may have beer
launched from somewhere west ol
the Reich border itself.
The 1st Army patrols sent int
Duren felt out one of the mair
strongholds on the Cologne Plain
The Germans had pulled back tc
the east bank of the Roer on broac
front above and below Duren after
weeks of long costly battle.
Heavy Nazi Artillery Fire.
Heavy German artillery fire fel
on the. 1st and 9th Army fronts
Ninth Army men in the Linnicf
area above Duren mopped up the
towns of Wurm and Mullendorf.
Along the southern sector of the
long western front, the American
7th Army hacked at stubborn Ger.
man resistance along a line run.
ming 20 miles northwest from thu
Rhine. German artillery was ex.
tremely active. West of Bitche 7tf
Army men batled to overcome two
holdout Maginot forts Two town!
were taken in 2-mile gain north.
west of Wissembourg.
Farther west the Bird Army
mopped up all but the factory dis
trict OF Dillingen and cleaned ur
strongpointS in Roden, suburb o.
Saarlautern. Small gains were
scored east and northeast of Sar.
reguemines.
The crucial battle was centered OF
the lst Army sector of the ferc,
German lash-out and fighting still
was heavy and costly.
BlackOut "a Hours Old.
The news blackout was "a hour.
old-hours in which much coule
have happened. The Germans hae
swept to Stavelot in a day and {
half.
This was the second time tha
news silence had been imposed oveI
an Allied reverse-the first was a
Arnhem-and the first time it hae
been applied on the American from
for reason other than to masl
sweeping advances.
1t thus had a strongly soberins
influence while word was awaited
on the fight that might prove the
hinge to the outcome of the whole
western campaign.
Hitler Planned Drive, Nazis Say.
Berlin said Hitler himself hac
planned this recoil drive.
Berlin dispatches to Bern de-
clared the counteroffensive was
designed to retake Aachen and
expel Allied forces from Nazi soil.
tThe German high command
declared today that Nazi tank
forces have broken through.
smashed and dispersed units of
the American 1st Army deep into
the enemy rear
tThe communique said Amer
lean tanks hurled against the
advancing Germans were re-
Four additional men from, |