Evening star., 1944-10-19

ton for an Allied cross-river assault.
In q desperate effort to avoid be-
ing trapped on the west bank, the
Germans apparently were falling
back to the south toward Venlo as
their comrades In the Venray-
America area were pushed back.
Gen. Eisenhower's communique,
officially reporting the seizure Of the
rail and road town of Venray, 7
miles from the German border, said
Allied forces had advanced 2 miles
south of the Venray-Deurne road
and gains had been made from the
west along the north side of the
railway east of Deurne.
The German report on this sector
said bitter hand-to-hand fighting
was taking place east and northeast
of Helmond, which the enemy had
acknowledged evacuating. Helmond
is S miles west of Deurne.
Inside Aachen the end appeared
in sight.
The Allied communique, however,
said the Nazi garrison was resisting
stubbornly and placed the center
of the fighting in the northwest
section.
From the Berlin radio came a re-
port that the Americans had
reached the main Aachen station
and were pushing on toward the
heart Of the city
Northwest of Aachen, 1t. Gen.
Courtney H. Hodges doughboys,
clearing the way for resumption of
the offensive, destroyed large
number of pillboxes and have made
gains against strong opposition" the
communique said.
1t was apparent that the Yanks
were engaged in methodical sweep
ing up process to liquidate the old
Siegfried defenses before tackling
the trench positions beyond. 1t is
obvious, too, that the interval was
being used to bring up supplies to
support a concentrated offensive.
Once again the Germans at
tempted to break the ring of steel
about the big industrial city, but
the same troops who closed the last
gap beat off two tanks-supported
infantry counterattacks.
In the Schelde pocket, crisscrossed
by dikeS and streams, German re-
sistance was evaporating with the
), 5,000-man garrison reported re-
duced to about 1000
Canadians thrust into the center
Of the pocket near the hamlet of
Waterlandkerkje, 51a miles south of
Breskens, where German batteries
are concentrated.
Another Canadian infantry force
fought its way along the south bank
of the Schelde past Nommer Zen
to within IL miles of Breskens and
brought the seacoast town under its
guns so that it could no longer be
used for evacuation
The Canadians took 480 prisoners
yesterday and in their advances now
held about a third of the pocket
with the Germans resisting along
the dike-like road running from
Breskens southwest through Schoon-
dixie, Oostburg and Sluis.
Once this road is pierced the Ger
mans probably would be forced back
on other coastal gun positions at
Cadzand and Knocke.
North of Antwerp, where the other
half Of the Schelde battle is being
waged, the Germans again were
back in the western half of Woens-
drecht, in the neck of the spit lead
ing to Walcheren and Zuid Beveland
Islands
Antwerp fell into Allied hands
virtually unchanged September 4
in the swift British Canadian north
ward thrust in Belgium, but German
guns still commanded both sides of
the 50-mile stretch of the Schelde
River estuary down to the sea.
The Canadians have squeezed the
enemy out of all but the last south
bank box roughly IL miles wide and
10 to IS miles deep across from
Flushing A hard fight lies ahead,
however, and the Germans can be
expected to do everything in their
power to block the channel.
Until the Antwerp docks are avail
able Allied stores must be trans