Evening star., 1944-10-31
Canadians Lose
ContuctW With Foe
NeurerCoust
MAP on Page A-4.J
By the Assoc d ted Press.

LONDON, Got. 81. - British
troops chasing the Germans
from Southwestern Holland
reached the Mas (Meuse) River
today, and speared within half a
mile of the Geertruidenberg
bridge, one of the main spans
of the enemy's fog-Shrouded eS-
capeS over the river.
The British wing struck to the
Mas due north of Tilburg, while
Canadian forces westward nearer
the coast, lost contact with the Ger
mans fleeing to the river and to the
Hollandsch dep.
THE battle for the port of
Antwerp is over, in our favor" de-
clared a spokesman for 1t. Gen.
Miles c. Dempsey, British I'd Army
commander. "It is a question how
fast and how far back the Germans
will go now."
Highways below the Mas were
black with German transports and
motor columns to IL miles long
had formed up at the Moerdijk and
Wlllemstad bridge and ferry cross
ings 10 to l8 miles west of Geer-
truidenberg. Fog saved them from
heavy assaults by Allied planes.
Nazi Attacks Halted.
Heavy, seesaw fighting ragged on
the eastern flank in Holland, where
strong German armored blows had
been halted. Allied troops had re-
gained part of Lieseel, one of two
towns lost to the German drive.
Canadians fought on the cause
way to Walcheren Island, last bar
rier to opening Antwerp Harbor,
after taking $500 prisoners in seiz-
ing the adjoining Schelde Estuary
island of South Beveland.
Two victorious Allied armies har-
ried the retreat as the battle of the
Dutch coastal corner and the re-
lated Schelde Estuary action reached
the mopup stage.
A front dispatch said it was esti-
mated that perhaps only 10000 to
10000 Germans had been left below
the Mas River line to attempt to
slow up the pursuit of the Cana
dian 1st and British I'd Armies.
A British spokesman has said that
the bulk of the enemy forces prob
ably would escape across the water
barrier.
Counterattack Makes No Headway.
East of Eidenhoven, the strongest
German counterattack yet launched
on the west front made no head
way yesterday, supreme headquar-
ters announced, and failed to blunt
the offensive north of Antwerp.
All of the Schelde island of South
Beveland now is in the hands of
British and Canadian troops, who
are poised at the narrow causeway
leading to the trapped enemy gar
rison on flooded Walcheren Island.
A few enemy guns remaining on
Walcheren Island bar the passage
of Allied ships from the long water
approach to Antwerp.
West of Antwerp the capture of
Retranchement compressed the
remnants of the Germans old
Schelde pocket garrison into
rapidly diminishing square of land
on the North Sea coast.
Below the Mas and its seaward
outlet, the Hollandsch dep, con-
verging British and Polish columns
sweeping up from Breda and
Tilburg met in Oosterhout, drove
forward and captured Raamsdonk,
less than miles from one of the
main bridges over the Mas near
Geertruidenberg.
Drive Past Roosendaal.
Farther west, Roosendaal was
abandoned yesterday by It's German
garrison, and Allied troops drove be-
yond it to the vicinity of Oud' Gas
tel North of Bergen Op Zoom, the
Canadian forces neared Steenbergen
A spokesman at British I'd Army
headquarters said there still was
no sign of German rout. 1t
is an orderly withdrawal, he said.
screened by extensive use of mines
and BOBBY traps, as we'll as elements
OF five or six enemy divisions acting
as rearguards.
On American sectors of the west
ern front, the French city Maizieres-
les-Metz, 6 miles north of Metz, was
cleared after three weeks of bitter
street fighting.
Farther south the villages of Bru
and Jeanmenil, approximately 2
miles east of Rambervillers, were
captured.
Otherwise there was little but pa
troll activity from Aachen to the
Swiss border.