Evening star., 1944-12-18
Western Front
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>dly has thrown a large part of his
trategic reserve into this supreme
fort, it was said, with the most
kelly purpose of derailing the Allied
inter offensive and holding the
mericans on the Roer River and
ne fringe of the Saar Basin until
pring.
1t was possible, it was stated, that
his may prove to be the final Ger
IAN effort to turn the tables.
BY some it was compared to the
reat German counteroffensive in
ne spring Of 1918.
Shrewdly timed when the Ameri-
ans were drawn up at the Roer and
resumably preparing for the serious
fort of getting across that barrier
oward Cologne and the Rhine, Mar
nal Won Rundstedt's blow was aimed
t the Ardennes Forest, path of Ger
nan conquest in 1910.
Proclamation to Troops.
It was set off by a proclamation to
lis troops telling them their hour
las struck" and that they must
achieve the superhuman for our
atherland and our Fuehrer."
Ninth Tactical Air Force head
7uarters in Belgium said hundreds
f Thunderbolts and Lightnings
,ounced on concentrations of as
lany as 300 to 400 tanks and ar
lored vehicles with rockets, bombs
nd machine guns as part of the
lllied reaction.
The Raj blasted Ulm, Munich and
Ouisberg behind the lines with 1900
.eavy bombers during the night.
Outnumbering the German fight
RS as much as 10 to /, the Allied
ighters along the entire front ac-
ounted for at least 113 out of $50
)lanes put over the lines by the
Germans yesterday and the night
before.
The Allied planes went down to
deck level to get in their blows
md 33 of them were lost.
Aim Is to Beat Up Nazi Army.
The German Air Force definitely
coming out and We are shooting
hem down every chance we get, but
fundamentally we now are out there
beat up the German Army" said
Maj. Gen. Elwood r. Quesada of
Washington, commander of the 9Th
Tactical Air Force
British fighters also tangled with
100 German planes flying down from
northern airfields and destroyed II
in one series of dogights. The 29th
Tactical Air Force accounted for %
more.
Altogether, Allied planes knocked
out Is tanks and armored vehicles,
l6 locomotives, 400 trucks and 300
railway cars.
The German Air Force continued
its bombing and strafing last night,
but its diminished effort indicated
that possibly the Luftwaffe already
was spent as result of prohibitive
losses.
The Germans threw up some of
their jet-propelled planes into the
assault as well as some of their "
bombs, and began using railroad
guns on an increased scale to bonn
bard the rear area of the 9Th Army
to the north of the 1st Army.
Chutists Being Rounded Up.
Many of the parachutists dropped
behind American lines Saturday
night to harass communications as
German armor and infantry struck
the frontal attacks already had been
rounded up and the search for 9TH
ers was going on methodically.
What appeared to be the main
enemy blow carried to within 1C
miles of Malmedy, which is % miles
south of Aachen and IA miles west
Of the German frontier. Enemy in
fantry and from 80 to so tanks over.
ran some American positions in the
area of Honsfeld, 2 miles inside Bel.
gium, and continued on another ;
miles before the attack eased.
Assuming that the Americans ir
this sector originally we're at the
frontier, the German advance repre-.
sents pentration of 4 miles. How.
ever, American lines on that long.
quiet sector are ill-defined.
German parachute troops were
dropped in four and eight mar
teams in two corps areas on the Isl
Army front and also behind the 9th
Army.
There were three other penetra-
tons of American positions in addi-
ton to the enemy thrust toward
Malmedy.
Attack Broken Up.
One was some 10 miles southeast
Of Malmedy, at point just south
of the German village of Heck
huscheid, where the Americans
hold a slender strip of enemy soil
Heckuscheid Is 5 miles northeas.
of the junction of the Belgian, Lux
embourg and German borders. In
this sector artillery fire broke ur
an attack by 100 German troops.
4 second was II miles farther