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THREAT TO AACHEN
DEVELOPING
Germans Admit Loss
of Maastricht
CANADIANS FORCED TO
ABANDON BRIDGEHEAD
I LONDON, Sept. (A.A.P.).
J The Germans admit the loss of Maastricht, in Holland,
J 17 miles N.W. of Aachen, witih wihcli it is connected by
road and rail. A new threat to Aachen is thus developing.
With the, approach of the Americans to Aachen — thev were last
reported to be .within a. mile of- the city, into which artillery was pour
ing shells German resistance is stiffening; American forces have-
made considerable penetration into the outer -defences of the Sieg
fried Line, where artillery and infantry are blasting the Germans from
pi .ooxes. Several villaes inside Germany have- been captured. '
The Canadians, east of Bruges, met such powerful German resist
ance that they were compelled to abandon their . bridgehead across
the Leopold Canal. Fighting -in this area was reported to be reminis
cent of the bitter Falaise battles. , :
Little additional news has been
received of progress by the Ameri
cans in their piercing of the
outer defences of the Siegfried
line, beyond the fact . revealed
from S-H.A.E.F. that the pene
tration was made east of Sairit-
vith and north-west of Fruiri:
This also applies to the. action
further northt near Aachen;;
where our artillery ,1s still shelling
the town. . ' .
Between the .Albert and Escaut
canals, which the Second British
Army Is now clearing, , has - be
come a --killing ground" for Geiv
mans, and fairly substantial 'casu<:
y- allies are being inflicted on the
a. enemy. ;
', The Canadian bridgehead- was
>J at Mocrkerke, five miles east of
a Bruges and two miles from, the
fk Dutch frontier. German resist-
® mice stiffened after '. thb Cana-
/!; dians crossed the canal.-: They
w wore heavily shelled and mor-
:« tared, and fired on by German
vS machine-gunners, and the infan-
try holding the bridgehead were
ordered back. The withdrawal
was completed yesterday- after
noon. ' :
The Poles, pushing north from
Saint Nicholas, got patrols to the
Dutch border, south .of the Dutch-
town of.Hulst. They: are meeting
determined, opposition.'- ' '
. The bag of, /.prisoners: at Le
Havre has ;riow reached 9600-
; ' The ' official -report - disclosed
that the Allied forces - had taken
several small town's inside Ger
many)) arid were ' meeting with
.increasing . resistance from . pre
pared enemy positions. Enemy
resistance was - strong south of
Aachen. ,;)' '
" East of . Saintvith the Allied
forces; pierced an outer section of
the Siegfried defences on a six-
mile front. . .Other units '.encoun
tered extensive road blocks- and
pillboxes, but progress was main
tained. Strong enemy, counter
attacks in the Mosells valley
against the Allied bridgeheads
were contained.
Further advances were madc in
the area, south of Nancv, where
the , Germans were putting up a
none Help
stubborn defence with heavy
mortar, smallariris, machine-gun
and sporadic artillery fire.
The enemy garrison at Brest
again rejected demands for - sur
render,; and fighting continues.
Fighter-bombers, -yesterday a t-
tacked enemy guns in -this area.
Scattered) enemy - fire was also
encountered in tne Crozon penln-
srila.s soutlv of Brest, where me
dium' bombers- and light bombers
attacked strongpolnts. .
Reports' suggest that large
quantities of artillery are: being
moved up to. the Rhine, but not
across it, from further back, in
/Germany.
According to. Berlin Radio,
, General Ramcke,- commander of.
Ithe -Brest- fortress, has sent a
message to Hitler to the effect
that the -battle had reached a
climax. The enemy had destroyed
ail ) fortifications, and ithe garri
son was fighting among the
ruins. Fires were raging. All
ships had been scuttled- and ln-
stallatfons destroyed, and the in
vaders would find only, ruins. The
garrison , the iriessage added, - had
only a few guns leH.
It was announced at -Allied
head quarters last night that the
Americans had crossed the Ger
man frontier at -two .new .points,
namely, just south of Aachen
and at a .point north-west of
Frum, where they had penetrated
to a depth of five to six miles.
In the Aachen area the Ameri
cans had now, crossed- the frontier
on a nine-mile front.
United States First Army units,
after breaching the 'first; of the
initial major obstacles in the
Siegfried Line in the , Aachen
area, had. reached a 'point orily
a mile south of- Aachen itself and
were already shelling the 'town,
whose fall was believed to be im
minent.
In this advance the Americans
captured Hergenrath and Gem-
m'enich (Belgian border towns),
about four and five miles south
west of Aachen. They had taken
also Forsteback, Kopsehen and
Wormhor, all inside the German
border south-east of Aachen.
In a despatch last night Reu-
ter's correspondent stated that
strong American concentrations
battling on a wide front yester
day pushed between 714 and 8
miles into Germany. The advance.
was made in the direction of
Pium, which Is an important
load Junction, The Americans a
mile south-east of Aachen were
meeting fire -.from heavy, artil
lery., .Infantry-south- of: Aachen
pushed through dense forests' as
it fought , its way -into, the outer
fringes of the Siegfried Line-
Other, press- despatches indi
cated that American troops' and
tanks had smashed two miles in
to the Siegfried Line north-west
of Trier. The Germans fought
fanatically In defence of their
home soil from- thinly garrisoned
and lightly armed fortifications
They were blasted from pillbox
after pillbox.
The Germans, after exerting
every effort to wipe out the Brit
ish bridgehead over the Albert
Canal, have had enough, says
Reuter's correspondent with the
British Second. Army. The Ger
man casualties In killed, wounded
and captured have been excep
tionally heavv.
The French battle fleet steamed
Into its home port of Toulon yes
terday past the wreckage of sis-
tcr ships bombed and scuttled in
the harbor, which is being rapidly
reopened for shipping. 1 The -Brit
ish cruiser Slrtus, with Admiral
Cunningham aboard, and the
American cruiser Philadelphia,
with Admiral Davldion on board,
were in the procession.
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