Evening star., 1944-12-26
Two Armored Columns Advance
To Within Four Miles Of Meuse
At Least Z Enemy
Armies Revealed
In Big Drive
Ey the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, Dec. 26.-Two German
armored columns by Sunday
night had plunged SO miles into
Belgium, reaching within miles
of the MeuSe (Maas) River. The
enemy wiped out the American
st. With salient and formed a
solid front 35 miles wide.
Supreme headquarters disclosed
this information today.
Two and possibly three Nazi
armies have been flung into the
counteroffenSive, believed at su-
preme headquarters to have been
planned by Hitler himself in an ef-
fort to shatter Allied forces in the
west.
11-Mile Advance.
Backed up by infantry, the twin
German tank pushes had careened
ii more miles into Belgium since
the last previous headquarters re-
port.
They had pinched off the Ameri-
can stand west of St. Vith-a jut-
ting salient that had split the Ger
man offensive prongs-and formed
single bulge 35 miles wide and now
so miles or more deep.
Punching due west, one Nazi tank
column neared Celles, only miles
from the Meuse at Dinant and just
8 miles northeast of the French
border.
Another COLUMN hit west and
north, reaching Ciney, in a 10-mile
gain. Ciney lies 9 miles from the
Meuse and IA miles from the jutting
northeast corner of France Ciney
and Celles are miles apart.
The security news cloak covered
any further progress these thrusts
may have made since Sunday night.
At latest reports battle was raging
in this general area. with the Ger
mans building up forces west of
Rochefort and south of Marche. |
The deep Sunday gains came after |
the invaders had been held almost !
to a standStill for 48 hours
IN the heart of the German bulge
a surrounded American force several
thousand strong fought doggedly to
hold the important Belgian road hub
of Bastogne after rejecting a sur
render ultimatum. 1t is under in
cessant Nazi armor and infantry
attacks.
Counterassault Gains Ground.
The whole hope of this isolated .
force focused TO the south, where
Gen. Eisenhower's counteraSsault .
had beaten back up the Arlon road |
within 5 miles of Bastogne-and .
still was gaining ground.
The American wedge west of st. |
With had kept Field Marshal Karl
Won Rundstedt's drives split
German stabs had veered north
of Laroche through to Grandmenil
and LierneuX, threatening to cut
off Americans dug in on ridges west
of st. With and keeping Won Rund-
stedt's assault prongs from merging
These forces had to be pulled out
In rear guard fighting the last two
or three days, supreme headquarters
said, and the German junction had
been formed by Christmas morning.
Details Lacking.
There were no reports whether this
withdrawal was completely success
full or if some arnor and infantry
that had held the pocket for almost
q week had been left behind.
The northern line Of the German
bulge now runs from north of Roche
fort, which has fallen to the Ger
mans, northeast through Marche,
Hotton and Grandmenil, then north
west of Lierneux to near Stavelot,
than ID miles east to Bullingen and
on to Monschau in Germany. Roche
fort is Is miles from the Meuse.
A field dispatch declared Won
Rundstedt apparently now was
seeking break-through toward
Namur rather than Liege, "a miles
northeast of Namur The Germans
were more than 30 miles from Ma
mur by Sunday.
Besides pounding into Rochefort.
German armor and infantry farther
southeast also had taken Libramont.
only % miles from Sedan and 16I
miles from the French border
Prisoners said the German timetable
called for Paris by January II.
Yanks Gain Near Duren.
Even as the German offensive bit
deeper into Belgium, Americans to
the northeast at Duren, 20 miles
from Cologne, had entered Windem
miles below Duren, Sunday. and
cleared Obernaubach, mile farther
down.
While the huge ground battle in
Belgium ragged on, the 9th Air Force
got in its fourth straight day of at
tackS. Thousands of German ve-
hicles and 500 enemy planes have
been knocked out by Allied flyers
since the start of the German coun-
terofensive.
For the first time, the main Ger
man pressure in Belgium appeared
to be turning from the west, where
there still were slight gains, to the
northwest or north.
A field dispatch dated Monday.
however, said the tide seemed to be
turning against the Germans in the
Stavelot sector, along the northern
rim OF the German break through.
500 Nazi Dead Counted.
Americans counted 600 German
dead and "a tanks knocked out on
the armor-churned snowfield near
Staumond, miles west of Stavelot.
where the Germans had been held
TO standStill. Yank forces drove
tne Nazis out of La Gleize, 3 miles