The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-20

NCo06Anueo ] &rols displayed a sudden aggressive ness. These may be indications the Germans are preparing to spread their offensive to Lieutenant Gen- eral Gorge s. Patton's front or are preparing to slave oil efforts by Pat ton to relieve pressure on the First American Army.
 seventh Army Front. Omcial re- ports said Heinrich Hmmler, chief of the GeStapo, has assumed per- sonal command of German forces in the Colmar pocket. The estimat- ed 35,OOO NaziS in the bridgehead they still hold west of the Rhine displayed sudden aggreSsiveness, flashing out at the First French Army.
 All reportS-both from front re- porterS and here at supreme Allied headuuarters-emphasized the ssri- ousnesS of the situation. It was pointed out here that information made available today on the oper- atoins up to noon Monday do not cover what was described as "the last 48 hours of German progress" '" @There was no indication at headouarters that German momen- fur att he center of their drive beyond Stavelot had been checked although at the north and south ends of the 70-mile front progress had been slowed.
 United Press War Correspondents Jack Frankish and John McDer- mott, reporting from the First Army front in dispatches filed at 10 a. m. 6. 6, m. EWT) reported the Germans continuing their attack with Naxi Panzer columns roving tnorugh the Belgian countryside in an attempt to disrupt American communications.
 They said the situation stfll was Sextremely fluid' but at the north ern end of the front two German attacks were repulsed with little difficulty. Considerabl German movement was observed behind the center of the First Army front. .
 A fire battle occurred close to one Belgian city between German flame-throwing tanks and American fIame-throwers. After the battle the Americans found at least ten dead Germans in civilian clothes.
 The First Army reported 1t had captured 724 prisoners in the past 24 hours.
 Allied flyers who swarmed out through low-hanging clouds to bomb and strafe the advancing enemy said the roads behind the First Army front were black with Nazi men and armor moving forward and there were signs that the German ot1en- sive had begun to spred up ana down the entire western front.
 Little Success
 Feverish German activity was sighted behind the U. s. Third Army sector where Lieutenant General Georxe s. Patton's troops were pumping hard but with little suc- cess against the edge of the Saar Valley. The American Seventh and French First Armies on the scouth- ern flank and the U. s. Ninth to the north similarly recorded little or no progress against suddenly stidened Nad resistance.
 Everywhere 1t appeared that the Germans had seized the initiatives or were trying hard to gain 1t, per- haps to keep pressure oil their break through front or perhaps as the prelude to general offensive.
 The fog of battle literally and fig- slratively covered the great struggle vast of the Belgian and Luxem- heCirg borders where Lieutenant General Courtney H. Hodges forces were rallying to counter the Ger man drive. Low clouds and mlstS hampered the American air support and reduced visibility to minimum even on the ground.
 General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Headquarters, responding to angry protests that the truth of the Ger man offensive was being withheld from the Allied people, issued a par tial report this morning covering the first 53 hours of the action.
 From the take-of at seven a. n1. |. last Saturday until noon Monday, the report disclosed, the Germans succeeded in breaking the American lines to depth of IS to 20 miles at four main points from Echternach on the Luxembourg border to Mon schau, just east of the Belgian-Ger- man frontier.
 German paratroopers, panzer di- visions and picked infantry outfits. apparently the cream of the Nazi strategic reserves, all participated il1 the offensive.
 Two armored spearheads struck from the east and southeast at St.