Evening star., 1944-11-05
German Attack
|Retakes Town
In Aachen Area
U. S. Flyers BIost
Schmidt Quickly as
roops Fall Bock
5000 ALLIED PLANES RAID II
German cities. Page A.

OOFnENE ALLIED HEAD.
QUARTERS, Paris, Nov. 4.-The
Germans slashed back today
with tank-led, artillery-sup-
ported counterattack and recap
tured the village of Schmidt to
guard their Roer River stand be-
fore the Rhine, but almost as
soon as they had won it Amer
lean fighter-bombers ripped the
town to pieces. Schmidt Is IS
miles southeast of Aachen.
The German thrust gained lit
tie more than a half-mile on a
narrow front where capture Of
Schmidt the previous afternoon had
carried the doughboys within 1000
yards of the Roer.
AS the Americans pulled back
clear Of the town and the Nazis
surged in, So fighter -bombers
screamed out of the clouds and in
three attacks hurled 48 tons Of
explosives into the streets and
buildings.
The pilots reported good success.
At least three tanks were destroyed
and German troops were believed to
have been pummeled badly.
SIugging Match Develops.
There was no indication of how
much additional force the Germans
intended or had available to pour in.
Along the rest of the American
1st Army latest assault front, north
past Hurtgen, the fight had turned
into a slugging match with both
sides pounding away and no signifi-
cant exchanges of ground
The Canadian 1st Army. which
cleaned up $50 square miles and
took 900 prisoners from October 6
to November !, had the Nazis on
flooded Walcheren Island rocked
back onto their heels and open for
Knockout punch.
South of the Mas the Germans
also were pressed back into belt
only three to four miles wide and
the fight there apparently was in
its final hours.
In France, the French 1st Army
edged within six miles of Gerardmer
in the entrance to the Schlucht
Pass through the Vosges, capturing
the villages of Rochesson, La Forge,
Bouvochotte, La Tete de Ia Neuve-
roche, Memaurupt and La Grande
Pileifiang.
In a little over a month the
French lst and the American 7th
Armies pushed Is to % miles east
from Epinal and Remiremont, carry
ing them over a third of the way
to the Rhine.
Throughout the day Allied me-
dium and fighter bombers concen-
trated on blasting railyards and
bridges along the whole northern
half of the western battle front.
The End Tactical Air Force scored
II direct hits and started a fire in
an attack on factory at Utrecht,
Holland, where the Germans are
manufacturing their one man hu-
man torpedoes. The flyers waited
until after quitting time for Dutch
workers before attacking.
London dispatches reported Allied
troops clearing the western flank in
Southwestern Holland for the i'm
pending offensives hammered for
ward two miles in general advance
that swept to within three miles of
the last German escape bridge at
Moerdijk, now within easy artillery
range.
A few thousand enemy rearguards
were pressed into strip three miles
deep on the southern bank of the
Mas River, and these were under
aerial assault as their transport COL
umns jammed the roads.
British Break Across Canal.
The battle spread along the Mas
nearly 20 miles east to a point west
of S Hertogenbosch, where the Brit
ish under a violent artillery bar
rage broke across Aftwatering Canal
and fought north more than mile
in a new drive to unhinge the
enemy's east flank and shove the
last German across the river.
American infantrymen in Eastern
Holland, defying mud and mortars,
plowed ahead more than two miles
and recaptured Ospel, is miles
southeast of the Allied base at
Eindhoven, thereby erasing almost
all the gains ground out by the
abortive enemy offensive a week
ago.
German lines along the Mark
River five miles south of the Mas
were crumbling fast, as the Poles
threw two more bridgeheads across.
captured Terheyden, and fought two
miles northward, capturing Wagen-
(See WESTERN FRONT, Page A-8)