Evening star., 1945-01-03
MAP on Page A-3.J
Ey the Associated Press.

tnup UU Fu9e A-3.)
Ey the Associated Press.
PARIS, Jan. 3.-The American
Sd Army's armored onslaught to.
day smashed 51a miles northeast
OF Bastogne up the diagonal rail.
way toward st. With, beating into
the outskirts of Michamps anc
into the Master Woods through
stubborn German resistance.
But the German Army was lash.
ing out furiously at a dozen places
along the undulating 70-mile front
from the Saar to the Rhine in di-
versionary assaults which already
have cost the Americans their thin
footholo on German soil northeast
of Sarreguemines.
The attacks may yet prove to be
another burst in Field Marshal Won
Rundstedt's offensive.
Limited Nazi Gains.
So far, the American line was
holding the Germans to limited
gains, but the Nazis were still strik-
ing along their 2-mile deep and S.
nlile-long dent southeast of Bitche.
The enemy, moreover, had driven a
bridgehead across the Blies River
east of Sarreguemines.
Snow was falling again over the
Belgian bulge and there was rain
farther south. At least through this
morning, close air support was lack
ing because planes were grounded
None of the Germans attacks be-
tween the Saar and the Rhine made
any sizable gains and most were re-
pulsed.
Behind the Siegfried Line in the
Saarland and Palatinate. consid-
cradle increase was noted in enemy
activity and supreme Allied head
quarters In its communique said
ominously that German units are
across the Blies River" in the sector
east Of Sarreguemines.
The inclination still was to treat
the German jabs along the Saar and
to the Rhine as local attacks.
Three Towns Recaptured.
Three more town were recaptured
by the Allies in the Belgian-Luxem-
bourg bulge. These were Margaret,
Gerimont and Mande ST. Etienne.
1t. Gen. George S. Patton's Sd
Army had captured 1926 prison.
ers since December %, when it
launched its counterthrust against
the German offensive.
Patrols penetrated st. Hubert, but
were pushed out of the Belgian
traffic center, which was increas-
ingly menaced by the approach of
Gen. Patton's main forces closing up
from the south.
German movements inside the
wedge were the greatest since the
Nazi westward tide was stemmed
and these were mostly eastward.
There was no positive indication
whether this represented an out
right withdrawal of armor which
Marshal Won Rundstedt was un-
willing to risk losing, or whether
1t was a troop shift from the badly
battered southern flank to meet a
possible menace elsewhere.
Broader Striking Positions.
Gen. Patton's troops swarmed for
ward in gains averaging at least a
mile along the whole front from
west of Bastogne to ST. Hubert
They broadened their striking posi-
tions on both sides of Bastogne and
advanced a mile and a half more
to the northeast.
BY last night, the thrust to the
northeast through bitter German
opposition had reached Arloncourt,
less than a mile from Michamp,
which is miles northeast of
Bastogne.
A Sd Army dispatch filed at 1913
am. today, however, said fierce
German resistance on both sides of
the Bastogne salient had brought
an overnight halt to the advance
into the neck of the bulge"
German defenses came princi-
pally from small arms and anti
tank gunflre rather than from Ger
man armor And along this whole
sector where Won Rundstedt ear
lier had jammed his forces shoulder
to shoulder, there were reports over
the last "a hours of steady troop
movements to the east and north
east.
Northern Flank Quiet.
This would be toward ST. With
the road junction at the base OF
the wedge which Allied fighter
bombers have been keeping under
ruinously constant attack
Official reports from north of the
salient said that flank was quiet
last night. Two German patrols
one in American uniforms, were
spotted American troops crawlet
forward a few hundred yards agains
German outposts south of Mon
schau.
From Bastogne itself the Ameri
cans by last night fought their wa.
2 more miles due east through tn,
village of Magaret and on toware
Longvilly.
Mande-St. Etienne was taken IL
a push of close to a mile due ives
along the Bastogne-Marche road.
Driving northward from the lin,
which runs almost straight from
Bastogne to st. Hubert, the Ameri
cans cleared the De Wallets Forest
S miles west of Bastogne. The,
pushed up three-quarters of mil,
from Monnerue, northeast of Moircy