Evening star., 1945-01-02
MAP ON Page A-3.)
By the Associated Press

1's hliC hnopSIobt0 1890.
PARIS, Jan. 2.-Lt. Gen. George
S. Patton's Sd Army advanced {
more miles into the south side oi
the Belgian bulge in heavy pres
sure attacks, and there were in
dications today that the Ger
mans were extricating what
armor they could from the fam
ing cauldron.
The 9th Air Force attacked one
German troop column definitely re-
ported moving east in the St. With
area near the base of the German
wedge, and another column of 100
vehicles, including tanks and other
armor, was bombed and strafed
near Ambleve, 5 miles to the north
east.
Pilots claimed the destruction or
damaging of SO of these vehicles.
There was no definite report on
which way the second column was
moving, but the size of the ar
mored force Field Marshal Won
Rundstedt had in the relatively
small salient made it seem un-
reasonable that he was sending in
more tanks and guns.
Nine Towns Captured.
Gen. Patton's main offensive
thrust was north of Bastogne from
the Longchamps area, where the
waist of the bulge last was report
pH M 1v 10 t,1i1nr
to five German divisions were re-
ported earlier in the week to be
west of Bastogne.
At least nine towns were an
nounced as captured. Most were on
the perlmeter of the corridor through
Bastogne, which front dispatches
said was widened and strengthened.
These were Hubermont, Houmont,
Chenonge, Remange, Wardin, Moir-
cy, Neffe and bitterly contested Har-
lange, 6 miles southeast of Bastogne.
The 9th was Echternach in Luxem-
bourg at the German frontier.
Gen. Patton's longest reported
gain of 2 miles overran Moircy.
which has changed hands several
times and drove on into Bornerie,
II miles west of Bastogne His divi-
sions beat forward and closed in on
the defenses guarding Vesqueville
2i2 miles southeast of st. Hubert.
Under the continuing time lag on
the Sd Army front, all these gains
occurred up to yesterday morning.
Salient Is Broadened.
The security blackout" also hid
further word of the American attack
north from Bastogne against the
waist of the wedge. 1t was possible
that the main force of this attack
had been thrown to the east, for
there the Americans made consider
able progress in battering Nazi coun-
terattacks to a standstill and broad
ening the Bastogne salient to miles.
On the northwest side of the bulge
American patrols thrust aggressively
into mo mans land" for 5000 yards
in the Hotton- -Marche sector with
out establishing contact with the
Germans. One battle dispatch said
the Germans obviously were re-
grouping for their next move" in
that area.
The German Army kept lashing
out in attacks widely scattered
along the Western Front, apparently
to take advantage of any weakness
in Allied lines which might result
from the shifting of forces to deal
with the Belgian bulge.
So far the enemy was not meeting
much success. 1t seemed clear.
however. that Won Rundstedt was
not through trying.
Nazis Gain Near Bitche.
The strong onslaught hurled
against the 7th Army line was re-
ported stopped everywhere except
in the wooded vicinity of Bapnstein,
s miles southeast of Bitche. There
the Germans had wedged mile and
a half into the American defensive
positions up to late yesterday.
There was no information here
whether the assault continued.
Even while the attacks around
Bitche were getting under way, it
was disclosed today that the Ger
mans were striking out in another
tank and infantry assault near the
Saarland steel town of Volkingen
against American positions on the