Pacific News-Review

Notes And Comment On

The Progress Of The War

From Sep. 17 To Oct. 16

Sep. 17: An Allied air-borne army has landed in Holland. More than 1,000 gliders, troop-carrying planes and towing planes took part in the operation. The landing is designed to overcome the belt of water defences and so turn the north ern flank of the Siegfried Line.

Sep. 17: The occupation by Allied troops of Morotai‘lsland (north of Halmahera, in the Moluccas) is nearly complete.

Sep. 19: The British Second Army driv ing into Holland has joined one air borne force near Eindhoven. Reinforce ments for the air-bome army, including heavy equipment and field guns, were landed yesterday. The original landings were made in the Nijmegan, Eindhoven, and Arnhem areas. The Dutch Resistance Movement is obeying Allied orders, and every train, tram and motor vehicle has come to a standstill. Strikes are wide spread. This appears to be all part of the Allies’ plan for a rapid occupation of Holland.

Sep. 19: Supported by naval units and swarms of bombers and fighters, the Eighth Army is continuing its assault on the enemy entrenched on the Adriatic coastal gateway to the northern plains of Italy.

Sep. 20: British troops driving across Holland are fighting along the Waal (Dutch name for the Rhine) and have reached the German frontier three miles to the east.

Sep. 20: Russian forces, still fighting along the Vistula, have gained a bridge head inside the city of Warsaw.- Sep. 21; British and American troops, after extremely bitter fighting, to-day captured -intact the main bridge over the Rhine at Nijmegen—one of the most important bridges in Europe.

Sep. 22: The British Second Army is held up north of Nijmegen and has not made contact with the British First Air borne Division, which has been fighting round Arnhem for six days and nights.

Sep. 22: An American carrier-based aircraft raid on Manila (Philippines), on September 20. did great damage to Jap military installations. Twenty-seven war ships were either sunk or damaged.

Sep. 22; Under heavy Red pressure in Estonia and Latvia, over 200,000 Germans are facing destruction.

Sep. 24: The British Second Army reached the south bank of the Lek River and patrols made some contact with the First Air-borne Division.

Sep. 24: While the Red Army Air Force is trying to wipe out the scattered Ger man forces in Estonia, the Germans are trying to escape by sea.

Sep. 24: American Marines are slowly occupying Peleliu Island (Palau Group) against bitter Japanese resistance.

Sep. 27: Allied sea and air-borne forces have been landing in Albania for the past 11 days. They are expected to harass the German troops withdrawing from the Balkans.

Sep. 28: Evacuation has ended the grim battle for Arnhem. About 3,000 of the 8,000 troops of the British Air-borne Divi sion which landed at Arnhem on Septem ber 18 have been withdrawn to the south bank of the Lek River. British doctors remained behind with 1,200 wounded. It is a heavy British reverse, and it means that the plan for the rapid liberation of Holla'nd and the turning of the Siegfried Line has been dislocated.

Oct. 1: The port of Calais (with Cap Griz Nez, 13 miles to the south) has sur rendered to the Canadians. The Ger man big guns, which have been bombard ing the Dover district for three years, have been captured.

Oct. 2: The American First Army, in

the Aachen area, launched an offensive after one of the greatest air blitzes in history.

Oct. 3; The Japanese claim to be advancing on Foochow, Chinese base on the China Sea, after a landing north-east of the town. Japanese military forces are moving rapidly in China, in the hope of forestalling an American landing on the coast of China.

Oct. 5: British troops have landed in Greece, by air and sea. They are in contact with' the enemy, are occupying the Pelopennessus (southern area of Greece) and probably will soon be in Corinth.

Oct. 5: The British Second Army com menced a drive on Arnhem, on the north bank of the Lek River, in Holland.

Oct. 8: More than 5,000 British and American bombers hammered Germany to-day in the most devastating daylight raid) of the war.

Oct. 8: German defences collapsed north of Aachen, following heavy attacks by Allied air forces. The city itself is almost encircled and American troops have entered the suburbs. Canadian forces have made a sea-borne landing in the Schelde Estuary (Western Holland) to relieve pressure on our Leopold Canal bridgehead.

Oct. 9: Two great Russian armies now are driving towards the Lithuanian coast, on a 175-miles front.

Oct. 9: Admiral Halsey’s Third Fleet (US) bombarded Marcus Island (south east of Bonins) all day yesterday. Most

of the coastal batteries were silenced and great damage was done.

Oct. 12: The Americans are systematic ally destroying the Siegfried Line city of Aachen, house by house and street by street. The city is on fire, after massed artillery fire and bomb raids.

Oct. 12: American Super-Fortresses this morning began a great air attack on the Japanese island of Formosa.

Oct. 12: Threatened with devastation by the advancing Russian armies, Hun gary is expected to sue for peace shortly.

Russian troops are now close to Budapest.

Oct. 13: One thousand Allied carrier based planes are still attacking Formosa.

Two hundred and twenty-one Jap planes have already been destroyed; 16 cargo ships sunk and another 19 damaged.

Oct. 15: British troops, assisted by Greek partisans, have occupied Athens, capital of Greece, and the port of Piraeus.

Oct. 15: Russian and Yugoslav forces are now in the suburbs of Belgrade, and the liberation of the city is expected soon.

Oct. 16; The great air-sea battle which began off Formosa on October 12 still rages. Tokio claims that the Japanese Fleet has come to grips with the Ameri can task force.

Oct. 16: Germany has announced the death of Field-Marshal Rommel, famous Nazi desert commander. He is said to have died as a result of a car accident; it is thought, however, that he died from wounds received at St. Lo, in July.