Evening star., 1944-10-28
Nazi Anchor in Holland Seized,
Stand Is Reported Co||apsing;
Gen. Sti|we|| Recalled From China
Canadians Take
Bergen op Zoom
Without Fight
MAP on Page Az
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, Oct. 28.-The whole
German stand in Southwestern
Holland is collapsing, front dis.
patches declared today, as Brit.
ish = Canadian columns racee
toward the enemy's last two es-
cape bridges in an effort to GU
off perhaps 10000 Nazi troop.
below the Mas (Meuse) River.
Canadians seized the Germans
western anchor of Bergen op Zoon
without fight, and bit within mile
of the stronghold of Roosendaal
British Army troops closed within
5 miles of the central bastion OF
Breda, after winning Tilburg as well
as S Hertogenbosch.
The German defense line below
the Mas has fallen to pieces" one
front dispatch declared. Another
said Allied armor and infantry were
moving so rapidly that Field Marshal
Gen. Walther Won Model either had
to pull back across the bridges at
Moerdijk and Geertruidenberg, 10
miles northwest and northeast of
Breda, ''or have his reeling forces
cut to bits"
One Battery Blocks Antwerp.
AS success followed success, Al
lied headquarters announced that
the free use of the great port of
Antwerp, the prize of this cam
paign, now is blocked only by the
isolated and doomed enemy coastal
guns of one battery at Vlissingen
(Flushing) on Walcheren Island.
The Germans are abandoning
their positions from the Schelde to
Tilburg, Associated Press War Cor
respondent William F.. Boni reported
from the field, and the campaign
has become a race to reach the
Mas bridges.
The swift-moving Allied drive
brought these major developments
along a 40-mile front:
I. Bergen op Zoom, stoutly de-
Tended western anchor of the enemy
line, was abandoned suddenly by its
garrison, and entered without op-
position last night by Canadian
armor and infantry.
2. Canadian infantry on South
Beveland Island crossed the north
south canal to the main part of that
island, and fought their way toward
i,,f ptrtft e., yr7t,
crossed the Schelde and expanded
their bridgehead on the southeast
coast of Beveland.
g. Allied troops were within 1000
yards of Roosendaal. and the Ger
man radio admitted they had pene-
trated the Nazi defenses south of
the city. To the east, the Breda-
Tilburg road was cut, and Breda it
self was target for converging col
umns of Polish and Canadian troops.
British Hold Tilburg.
4. Tilburg was in the hands of,
British troops, who got tumultuous
welcome from the Dutch population.
although a few snipers still clung to
the western fringes of the city.
5. North of Tilburg, an armor and
infantry slash carried through Loon
op Zand and headed for Oosterhout
on the escape route from Breda to
the Geertruidenberg Bridge over the
Mas. Here the British were only
miles from the Mas.
In the IS Hertogenbosch area,
the British strengthened their hold
along the Aftwatering Canal 2 miles
below the Mas, and beat off weak
enemy counterattack.
But on the eastern sector of the
Allied salient into Holland, the Ger
mans struck haro at American
armor in the Venio sector, and took
the town of Meijel north of the
Roermornd-Weert railway. A Brit
ish staff officer said the enemy
threw in 80 tanks into this fight.
Bergen op Zoom was the fourth
major stronghold in the German
line to fall in three days. The
others were s Hertogenbosch,
Vught and Tilburg.
May Yield Large Cities.
Elements of eight German divi-
sions were pulling back along the
Southwestern Dutch front and rem
nants of two more were cut off at
the Schelde Estuary.
Front reports said the enemy
might yield all of Western Holland.
including the cities of Rotterdam,
Amsterdam and The Hague.
Along the south bank of the
Schelde, the survivors of the trapped
German 54th Division We're being
hammered into submission, and the
Canadians had pushed to within Lit
tie more than a mile of Cadzand,
one of the last remaining Nazi
strongholds. In one day Canadians
took 600 more prisoners, raising the
total in that operation to 1922, at q
cost of IA casualties.
The German 10th Division is hold
ing on South Beveland, with little
hope of escape.
Nazi Columns Flee Northward.
Motor columns streaming north
from Breda and Roosendaal indi-
Gated Won Model was attempting to
withdraw the bulk of his forces be-
fore the closing pincers of the Allied
drive became a disastrous trap. But
there was no sign of enemy de
moralization.
The German counterattack against
(see WESTERN FRONT, Page A-2)
Cold Sunday Forecast
Partly cloudy and rather cold wa,
the forecast for tomorrow following