Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-01-13

Aoe 1Iliiy lllld lltIy ana TANKS
opened a general assault to-
day against the northern side
OF the shrinking German
bulge into Belgium and scored
substantial initial gains along
a 30-mile front.
BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, Jan. 13.-American LIST
Army troops today drove more
than a mile through snow-bound
forests toward Houffalize, heart
OF the Germans shrunken bulge
into Belgium, while % army
forces on the south hdttled with
in S miles of mat highway
stronghold.
+ The LIST Amy vanguards sliced
within iniles of Houffalize, menac-
ing the Germans last escape road
and narrowing the waist of the
enemy salient to less than II miles
Ousted from 100 square miles at
the tip of the salient. Field Mar
shall Karl Won Rundstedt already
had fallen back to within 2 to 3
miles of the Ourthe River. The
new blows menaced any German
hopes of holding a line through
Houffalize east of the river.
Nazi Losses Put at 100000.
BY unofficial estimate, Won Rund-
stedt had lost the equivalent OF
20 divisions-perhaps 100000 men
in his breakthrough drive. But he
had rescued the bulk of his far
reaching armor, in strength still
constituting striking threat.
Sd Army headquarters announced
that the Sd Army alone had &C.
counted for 10000 killed, wounded
or captured since December %.
The tip of Won Rundstedt's drive
had been bent back % or Is miles
from its nearest approach to the
Mouse River, and American and
British Armies had rewon go per
cent of Gern1an-overrun territory.
Soldiers of the list Army advanced
1000 yards through forest lands
south of Langlir. miles above
Houffalize, moving within 3 miles
Of the important Houffalize-St. With
highway. The Germans fought
back violently.
Patriots Aid Reds.
Without Houffalize, the Germans
probably would have to pull back
all the way to ST. With on the north
and Vianden on the south, retreat
ing again into the Siegfried outer
defense zone.
First Army patrols which stabbed
east Of the Salm River already were
within miles of St. With. And the
latest Sd Army punch up through
Northern Luxembourg was only
miles from Vianden At both these
danger spots the Germans appeared
to be putting up their stiffest re-
sistance.
While Won Rundstedt had power
to lash out again, it seemed likely
such thrust would be directed else
where on the western front than in
the Ardennes bulge.
The Alsace plain, with Strasbourg
as its chief prize, was a potential
toehold for such an offensive-but
stiffened French-American defense
there was holding the latest Nazi
assaults to a virtual standstill.
Rearguard Resistance Folds.
German rearguard resistance fold
ed quickly in the collapse of the
western end of the Belgian pocket
as the Germans abandoned a sector
from 7 to 10 miles long and nearly
10 miles wide.
First Army troops pushed 8 miles
below La Roche, at the northwest
tip Of the salient, and the British
I'd Army, in 4-mile advance, joined
with Sd Army men near st. Hubert
on the southwest corner. st. Hubert
was occupied without a fight.
The Sd Army gained miles over
night in rolling back the Germans
west OF Bastogne. Southeast of Bas-
togne the mopup of the Harlange
box was completed. Another 2,37T
prisoners from the Nazi debacle
flowed into Sd Army cages yester.
day.
Farther down the line, 7 mile.
south of Echternach, American.
cleared the village Of Machtum, or
the Moselle's western bank, in a loca
action.
North of the Belgian bulge the
Germans were stabbing out in small
counterattacks, and one in company
strength hit United States 9th Army
lines this p1orr,ipO II, tho T;~da,.,