The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-09
Signs Reveal Germans
 Pulling Out Of Bulge
Continued from Page D

ping the Americans of air support. At midaitcrnoon the skies showed some sign of clearing again.
 At captured ProvedrcuX, where Hodges forces were only four miles from the Houffalize St. With high way, the Doughboys stood fast without even undertaking an ad- vance in the vile weather
 A column Of the British Second Army striking southeast into the crumbling zone of the salient cap tured Cheoux, four miles south or Hotton.
 Admit Reverse
 The German high command ad- mitted in It's communiquc that the Americans had driven gaps m their lines on the north side Of the ArdenneS Salient and said their units were engaged in hard but successful" fighting against an American effort to break through between the Salm and Ourthc rivers. Some Nazi forces. the communiquc admitted. were encircled.
 The Germans claimed they had frustrated the effort Of Lieutenant General George s. Patton to blunt the Nazi Salient southeast of BaS- togne.
 Tn the Vosges the NaziS admitted that American counter attacks were being thrown in but claimed they had widened their penetrations in heavy fighting.
 With two to three feet of snow clogging most of the roads through the Ardennes. the Allied tank col umnS were making very slow pro- gress and at many points hall = frozen riflemen were moving out ahead of their armored screen 10 engage the enemy.
 Field dispatches said the Ger mans were pulling back their armor from the northern and western ends of the salient at top speed, covering their withdrawal with in- fantry rear guards and extensive mine fields.
 The NazLs still were fighting fiercely and in force along the southern flank. however, and there was no indication that the enemy had started a general retreat from th ArdcnucS.
 The overall situation was describ- ed officially AS more favorable thah any time since Marshal Karl yon RundStedt embarked on his great gamble in the Ardennes on Dec. lG, and hope was running high that il substantial part of the 20 German divisions in the bulge could be po"keted and destroyed by the con- YcrglnR Allied armies.
 Simultaneously. late reports indi- catcd that the American Seventh Army had taken tne sting out of the German diversiOnary drive into Alsacc with q series of smashing counter blows tEat set the NaZis back on their heels all along that front
 Both German brldgcheads across tLe Rhine near StrasbOuTg were re- ported under control and Seventh Army troops pushed back into the salienl5 carved out by the NaZls below WiSscmb0ur2 and Bitcie
 On top of that. headquarters an nOunced the destruction of n small bridgehead established by tLe en- emy on the west bank of the Maas.
 The biggest gain on the northern wall of the ArdenneS was won by riicmen of tle U S. Bard Infantry Division and tank spearheads of the Third ArmOred that cut across thc St. Vlth-La Roche highway on . three mile front west of the Salm river
 The dougEboy tank team ndyanc rd more than a mile south of the road late yesterday t0 capture Jubie- val, Ottre nd Pr0VedrOuX, and press ed ahead through the night In the face 0f heavy enemy Ire
 Early today, lhc American right flank was reported in field dis patches tO have advanced more than a mile pd't ProyedrOux t0 q point less than four miles from tLe Iloui ? lalile St With road, ihe last hlph- way stlll under German control in the pocket
 Iiign winds and intermittent snow nurrlcS whipped at the advancing troops throughout the night. but al daybrtak the skies were clearing and there was hope that direct all support would be forthcoming fOl lhe hrat time since Field Marshal Sir Bernard l., Montgomery lannch. ed hls oomter-oifensiye laSt We'd neSdaY
 United PrcaS War Correspondents c, 10 Cunningham and Boyd Iewi' reported from the front that th' American breakthrough ln the n0ril had seriously imperiled the entire German position inside the salient
 The next few days. they said will determine whether Rundstcd can cxtriCatc the bulk 0i hls troop from the salient II the Americans can smash ahead quickly to th' SC h-Houiialize road. now lcsi than four miles away. the Nazls only hope of escape would be b, breaking through the AmericaT Third Army line at Bastogne. oI the southern flank.
 One Flank Weakened
 Late dispatches suggested th, life jackets and cans of food ant