Sensational News Coming

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 57, 5 September 1944, Page 5

Sensational News Coming

ANTWERP LIBERATED

m. An>J . .■ . . LONDON, September 4. me Allied armies, m their irresistible advance, have crossed the Dutch irontier, it was announced tonight by the Netherlands Prime Minister, Dr. P. S. Gerbrandy; when broadcastingr to the people of Holland from London. He told his countrymen that the hour of their liberation had struck, and that soon the moment Would come when the Queen would return to govern in justice and peace. British troops are now driving on from liberated Brussels across the Dutch border after having taken Antwerp in their stride. «.■ A De, ep secrecy stm surrounds General Patton's army, and correspondents say that when the veil is lifted sensational news may be expected. A message from General Eisenhower called on the people of Rotterdam to preserve their harbour and factories, to notice where mines were laid and to do whatever they could to help. The radio warned the citizens that this was not a general call to armed resistance in Rotterdam. According to Dutch circles in London, Allied troops have reached the town of Breda, seven miles across the border and 30 miles beyond Antwerp. A correspondent says that the Germans have no idea what is happening all round them, and their retreat is as good as a rout. Except in the coastal sector they are resisting only in small groups of about 30 men who fight desperately to the end. Prisoners are pouring in, thousands of them, bewildered, hungry, weary men.

In the coastal sector the First Canadian Army is still meeting organised resistance in the Somme estuary, but General Orerar's men have fought their way forward from Abbeville, 25 miles along the whole front, The R.A.F. Tactical Air Force today sighted a huge German horse-drawn convoy moving out of Boulogne, and, in the v/ords of an intelligence officer, "turned it upside down and backwards." At Le Havre the German garrison has- refused an ultimatum to surrender. It is confirmed that the enemy garrison holding the island off St. Malo surrendered yesterday. The British Second Army is going forward all-out in top gear. A correspondent says that in the long weeks of static warfare near Caen these troops gave a thorough thrashing to the German army. Now, they are showing the enemy how they have mastered the tactics of pursuit.

It was only yesterday morning that they crossed the Belgian frontier; by evening, they were in Brussels, 50 miles op;- before noon today they were nearing Louvain, east of the capital; they were beyond Malines northwards, half-way to Antwerp; to the west they had freed Ouidenet, on the River Scheldt. Further inland they were in the great industrial city of Lille, and despite opposition on the line of the canal they had liberated jßethune and La Bassee. The Belgium national radio is broadcasting tonight from two transmitters, both of .them built secretly in the capital during the German occupation. Brussels radio says that the triumphant entry of the British Second Army yesterday evening was marked by only a few short skirmishes which have not seriously affected the general appearance of the city, but that a pall of smoke could be seen rising from the. Law Courts "which had : been blazing furiously since the morning. Brussels radio says; half a dozen other Belgian stations outside the capital are now broadcasting freely. • ADVANCE OF 'AMERICANS. ' American troops between the fleeing Germans in the south were tonight reported to have reached a point 40 miles north of Lyons. They have occupied the town of Bourg, and have cut the road from Lyons to Belfort. At the same time, French, and American troops; have sealed off the crosscountry roads leading to the Swiss frontier. On the left flank, French troops moving straight north towards Dijon are rapidly narrowing the gap between General Patch's forces and tfyose of General Psrtton. . Lyons has been cleared of all enemy resistance.