Evening star., 1945-01-24
Roods and Rails
CIogged Despite
New Air Blows

By the Associated Press.


toward the Russian front were
observed deep inside Germany
today as American armies vir-
tually erased the remaining slen-
der strip of the Ardennes salient
along the Reich frontier.
Roads and rails were clogged; the
Germans moved by day as well as
night, despite Aimed air blows which
in 48 hours up to today cost them
4,706 trucks, 207 tanks and hun
dreds of rail cars and locomotives.
British pilots alone attacked 165
packed eastbound troop trains on
three lines between Dusseldorf and
Hanover. Pilots said trains NOV
ing toward the western front were
empty.
Indications were that the Ger
mans were withdrawing large ar
mored forces from the west, front
dispatch from the general area of
Field Marshal Montgomery head
quarters said.
The Germans held a scant 200
square miles in the Ardennes, half
before the American Sd Army In
Luxembourg. and half before the
American lst Army captors of St.
With in Belgium
rs Towns Captured.
At least Is towns were reported
captured in those two countries and
in Germany itself, where the Brit
ish I'd Army drove into the seven
way highway junction of Helms
berg. on the Wurm River, a nearby
tributary of the Roer. Heinsberg is
81 miles from Dusseldorf and l6
miles from Munchen Gladbach.
The 7th Armored Division beat
down four German counterattacks
in the St. With area and the Sd
Army fought inside Vianden. south
ern anchor of the enemy's Ardennes
line.
The German threat to Northern
Alsace persisted after an American
7th Army withdrawal east and
north of Haauenau, major base Is
miles north of Strasbourg. The
French lst Army below the Alsa-
tian capital advanced several kilo-
meters into the north side of the
Colmar pocket.
SnoWStorms prevented more
massed ali attacks early today on
the withdrawing Germans to the
north. Five inches of snow fell
overnight on the Sd Army front.
covering the battle-ground with a
foot and half of accumulated
snow Some drifts piled up to feet.
"Momentous Events" in Offing.
Despite the huge scale of The
German movement, which must be
considerably weakening the Reichs
western defenses. there was no i'm
mediate signs of the enemy falter-
ing said Associated Press Cor
respondent Roger D. Greene.
He added, however, that mo
mentous events" were in the of1ing
The Russian communique at mid
night noted a fifth German division
shifted from the western to the
Polish -Silesian front. The Russians
Saturday identified four divisions
which they said had been in action
on the western front.
The American 7th Army made
a limited withdrawal in the general
area east and north of Haguenau. !"
supreme Allied headquarters an
nounced, yielding most of the Hague
nau Forest, but mo large towns. {"
Five or six German divisions have
been exerting pressure in this Sec
ton of Alsace.
tThe German radio last night
broadcast a dispatch from Guen-
ther Weber, Transocean news
agency correspondent, saying the
Nazi counterattack in Alsace was
nearing its climax and reporting
bitter fighting in Haguenau For
est, where Weber asserted the
American Rainbow Division "suf-
Tered one Of its heaviest blows"
CThe broadcast said the Ger
mans had recaptured Gum
brechtshoven, Eschbach. Wall
burg, Schaerzweiler, Surburg and
Oertschdorf-all towns in North
ern Alsace)
British Enter Heinsberg.
In the north opposite the Meuse
River, the British I'd Army fought
with tanks and infantry into Helms
berg, last important German road
center west of the Roer River. In at