Evening star., 1945-01-04
1st Army Advances Three Miles;
Nazis Attack 1O1st Sky Troops
Check Pattons Drive in South
Hodges Forces
Take Town and
Key High Points
By the Associated Press.

PARIS, Jan. At. Gen
Courtney H. Hodges 1st Arm,
today advanced 8 miles, passinl
Its initial detectives, in a power.
ful new offensive into the NORTH
flank of the German bulge below
-Grandmenil and capturing ar
unidentified village and key high
points. The gains were scored
during a binding snowstorn
against stiffening tank opposi.
ton.
"a Paris radio report late to-
day said Allied forces had evac-
uated Wissembourg, on the
Bitche and the Rhine.)
About Is miles to the south, 1t
Gen. George S. Pattons Sd Army
advance was halted at least tempo
rarily by violent German counter
attacks north and northeast of Bas-
togne against the famous 101st Air
borne Division Field Marshal Won
Rundstedt built up his southern
&4dllh lOlCC w ~ ulFlSlOIlS.
A dispatch from the 7th Army
front in Northern Lorraine said the
threatening German thrust south of
Bitche had been blunted and 1t.
Gen. Alexander M. Patch's men were
hammering steadily at fianks of the
enemy salient, achieving some ad-
vances.
Yield Palatinate Holdings.
Persistent German attacks from
the Saar to the Rhine, however, had
forced the Americans from their
holdings in the German Palatinate
east of the Wissembourg Gap and
from all except the Saarlautern
bridgehead in the Saarland.
German advances of up to miles
In Lorraine reached almost to Rel
pertswiller. miles below Bitche and
13 miles north of Saverne on the
Allied lifeline to the Rhine city of
Strasbourg. A small force of Amer
leans was withdrawn from a corner
of Bitche, bastion of the old Mag
mot Line.
Won Rundstedt reacted swiftly to
the new 1st Army offensive, opened
at $3.50 am. yesterday by Gen.
Hodges after II days of defensive,
parrying fighting. He started coun-
terattacks
Fresh Nazi Reserves.
Throwing in fresh reserves and
taking advantage of the hard ter
rain and bad weather, the German
commander braced his infantry and
started using armored elbows against
both the 1st and Sd Army drives.
At the extreme southwest nose OF
the bulge, other Americans advanced
mile and half, captured two un-
identified villages south of Roche
fort and high ground dominating
the valley.
Gen. Hodges, showing slowly but
powerfully south from Grandmenil,
began to encounter stronger ele-
ments of the German Army. He
was pushing boldly straight toward
one of the heaviest concentrations
of enemy power on the front. Won
Rundstedt committed another tank
division against the Bastogne Sec
tor. OF the 10 German divisions
fighting Gen. Patton, half are tank
or tank grenadiers units.
The Americans were regaining by
yards what the Germans in their
surprise offensive gained by miles
but the doIghboys knew from the
outset that the going would be slow
and tough and were declared pre-
pared fot it.
20 Divisions in Bulge.
In the bulge were 20 German divi-
sions, II of them officially described
as severely mauled. Since the start
of the German drive December 16
the 1st Army had captured 10,67O
prisoners and the Sd Army 8,484,
total of 1854.
Although the German pace was
reported slowed in the snowy
Vosges Mountains of borderland
France, the situation there still had
elements of peril. Below Bitche the
Germans had pushed within 21a
miles of the open Alsace plain.
The 7th Army recaptured Widen
guth, just northwest of Reiperts-
willer, but lost Phillipsbourg, 8 miles
southeast of Bitche on the road to
Haguenau, Is miles away. The
Americans fought to rewin Phil
ippsbourg.
Around Bitche, the 7th Army held
onto the big Maginot fort of Sim
erserhoff, but yielded the partially
destroyed remnants of the equally
powerful forts, Schiesseck and
Freudenburg, Associated Press Cor
respondent Robert G. Wilson said.
Nazis 5 Miles Inside France.
Southeast of Sarreguemines, the
Germans advanced to Achen and
Gros Rederching. Both are miles
inside France and 7 miles back
from the positions inside Germany
from which the Americans re-
treated.
AT last reports, the Americans still
held Wissembourg Gap into the Ba-
Fdl lldu GdldlllIdIS Ol SefIlduy On q
front 10 or IL miles wide.
(The German high command
said today the Allied offensive on
the north side of the Ardennes
salient was on a large scale and
was launched between Stavelot
and Marche, a 28-rnile front.
CThe attack was made by
American shock troops Ito relieve
formations engaged in a heavy
struggle at Bastogne," the broad
cast ccmmunique said. 1t de-
clared the attack had been ex-
pected and that the Americans
lost "a tanks.
"a DNB military commentator
broadcast declared units of 1t.
Gen. William Simpsons S 9th Army
had been brought up from the
Three additional men from
the District area hare been re-
| ported killed In this Dnr. See
II 4