Evening star., 1944-09-05
}. 5. Forces Believed
Well Inside Reich;
Rhine Drive Possible
CONTINUED From First Page }

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$1,000, was burned by the Germans
in 1914 and was the easternmost
point In the British defensive line
In 1910.
British troops also spread out to
the west taking Aalst (AloSt). half
way to Gent. Mechelen, Is miles
north of Brussels, also was captured
1t has a population of $4,000 and is
the fifth city of Belgium To the
southwest other British units were
occupying the French industrial city
OF Lille.
Trapped Nazis Being Mopped Up.
Trapped German forces ranging
from few hundred to few
thousand were being mopped up
by the British in the vicinity OF
Tournai, where 1t. Gen. Sir Miles
c. Dempseys I'd Army first struck
into Belgium in a northward sweep
from its Seine bridgehead which
averaged IS miles day for six days.
The state of some of the defeated
NaN divisions which had fed few
days ago across the now sealed es-
cape gap through Belgium was re-
vealed by captured enemy docu-
ments. These showed that one Ger
man division was reduced to three
officers and 80 men, another to 10
officers and 140 men and another to
800 officers and men from a normal
strength of 5000 to 10000.
These perhaps are extreme ex-
amples of the depletion OF the Ger
man forces, but 1t has been sug-
gested that the estimates in the
London press of 100000 Nazis
hemmed in bv the Pas-de-Calais
coastal trap likely was too high.
The Germans at least had enough
strength left in the coastal strip,
however, to bring the British Cana
dian close-in for the battle of the
Channel ports to temporary check
in an arc some 70 miles long and 80
miles deep at its widest point.
Last Rail Lines Cut.
The last link in the trap encir-
cling the Germans between the
Somme and the Scheldt Rivers was
forged by the British capture of
Antwerp. The last rail lines from
the Belgian and French Channel
coasts to Germany were cut when
that city fell.
Antwerp's capture, which came
after the British had taken Brussels,
also gave the Allies a big ocean port
to handle the flood OF supplies need
ed to keep the offensive rolling.
The British reported no new gains
beyond Aire on the road to Calais.
Aire was taken more than "a hours
ago. The Canadians who had been
speeding up the coast fought their
way through toughened resistance
up to the Canche River line some
20 miles north of Abbeville and
reached Etaples, Is miles south Of
Boulogne.
The German garrison at lie Havre
rejected an ultimatum to surrender
and presumably was being brought
under a final assault, although it
was difficult to estimate how long
1t might take to clear the Germans
out there.
Queen to Return.
Gerbrandy, in his broadcast to
Netherlands said:
The hour of liberation has struck
Soon the moment will come when
the queen will return to your midst
to govern In justice and peace"
Gen. Eisenhower called on the
Dutch to save from German demoh-
tion the docks, factories and rail-
ways of Rotterdam.
A delayed report from the 9th
Air Force in France indicated
American units also might have
been in the forces which crossed
the Dutch frontier.
A front dispatch reported an en-
kagement between American Sd
Army units and the Germans at
Pont-a-Mousson, midway between
Metz and Nancy.
An indication that the secrecy of
supreme headquarters was paying
OF as regards its effect on the Ger
mans was seen in field dispatches
from the United States lst Army.
These told of thousands of German
troops trapped at the French-Belgian
border near Mons.
Believing there was 15-mile gap
In the American lines south of Mons,
q large number of Germans at
tempted to cross in front of a divi-
sional command post and were
moved down.