Evening star., 1945-01-20
British Units Cross
Meuse; 1st and Sd
Armies Near St. With
MAP on Page All
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, Jan. 20.-Three success
Slve attacks by German troops
from the center of their cross
Rhine corridor have smashed the
United States 7th Arny's defense
line in the Strasbourg area back
almost 5 miles into the village of
Weyersheim, o12 miles above the
menaced Alsatian capital.
Earlier reports said the Americans
lashed back today at up to 10000
Germans linked in the br1dgehead.
Strasbourg is a political asset the
Allied supreme command is adj
mittedW anxious to retain.
The Germans hold a solid corri-
dor on the Rhine's west bank to
within miles of Strasbourg and
are 10 miles from the city on the
south.
On the northern section of the
front British troops jumped the
Meuse River below Roermond un-
opposed last night, widening the I'd
Army'S push III the Dutch pam
handle which is forcing the Germans
back on the Roer River line 38 miles
west of Dusseldorf
Just below the british operations,
United States 1st and Sd Army
troops drove in on ST. With, high
way stronghold in the diminishing
Belgian bulge, and advanced north
of captured Diekirch, 80 miles to the
south in Luxembourg.
British Meet No Opposition.
| British assault troops crossing the
Meuse by boat seized Stevensweert,
= miles southwest of Roermond,
without opposition. The crossing
added about 2 miles to the 7-mile
assault arc of white-camouf1age
tanks and troops bullying into Ger
man lines within to 10 miles Of
the Roer River.
Although StevenSWeert had been
abandoned, it was still too early to
tell whether the enemy was begin
ming general withdrawal from the
tip of his salient between Roermond
and Geilenkirchen in Germany, a
front dispatch said. British troops
advanced up to 1900 yards in mop
up operations. and pushed beyond
Hongen, a mile from the German
Dutch frontier.
Farther north German parachute
troops in sudden assault seized
Zetten, 6 miles north of Nijmegen
and 4 miles below Arnhem, but Al
lied counterattacks drove them back
in night street fighting.
In the Strasbourg area the Ger
mans apparently were strengthen
| ing armored forces poured into the
Rhine bridgehead At least six pom
toon bridges have been thrown over
| the river.
Nazis Pulling Back Tanks.
Field Marshal Karl Won Rundstedt
had pulled virtually his whole tank
force out of the westerf front bat
tleline except for this northeastern
corner of France. Snowstorms
screened the movement. Whether
he was pulling the tanks back for
repair or racing to hurl them into
battle for Strasbourg was a ques-
ton.
German attempts to edge closer
to Strasbourg's northern outskirts
were broken up, although patrols
had advanced to within miles
of the city. German forces below
IStrasbourg are but 10 miles away.
An American counterattack
smashed a German bridgehead flung
over the zorn River, 9 miles north
Of Strasbourg. But the Germans re-
pulsed American infantrymen at
tempting to slash back into Sessen-
helm, in the Nazis' Rhine bridge
head II miles northeast of Stras-
bourg.
The United States 1st Army had
compressed an arc within miles of
st. With and taken all commando
ing heights on the north and west.
Five more towns fell northwest and
southwest of that bastion.
Other Units Advance.
The 30th Division won Eivetingen,
2 miles southeast of Malmedy. and
1veldingen, $500 yards southwest of
Eivetingen. The 1st Division oc-