Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (April 17, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
171100B April
TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR
(2) NAVY DEPARTMENT
TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(3) TAC HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) MAIN 12 ARMY GP
(5) AIR STAFF MAIN
(6) ANCXF
(7) EXFOR MAIN
(8) EXFOR REAR
(9) DEFENSOR, OTTAWA
(10) CANADIAN C/S, OTTAWA
(11) WAR OFFICE
(12) ADMIRALTY
(13) AIR MINISTRY
(14) UNITED KINGDOM BASE
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM ZONE
(18) SHAEF REAR
(19) SHAEF MAIN
(20) HQ SIXTH ARMY GP
(21) WOIA FOR OWI WASHINGTON FOR RELEASE TO COMBINED U.S. AND CANADIAN PRESS AND RADIO AT 0900 HOURS GMT.
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 374
UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces, breaking out from the Arnhem area, advanced beyond Otterlo. They also joined with units in the most northerly bridgehead across the Ijssel River in the area southwest of Zutphen. heavy fighting continues in Apeldoorn and in Gröningen to the north.
We occupied Leeuwarden and reached the north sea coast at several places.
Our armor broke out of our bridgeheads over the Aller River and advanced up to 15 miles, capturing Walsrode, Bergen and Müden.
Fighter-bombers attacked road movement over a wide area from the Zuider Zee to Emden, Bremen and Hamburg and heavily bombed road and rail transport in the Bremen-Hamburg-Berlin triangle. West of Oldenburg, a number of targets, including infantry and pillboxes were hit by rocket-firing fighters.
We control the west bank of the Elbe River, except for a few small pockets, from Wittenberge to the Elbe-Saale junction, south of Barby. Magdeburg is not yet clear of the enemy.
Our bridgehead across the Elbe is five miles deep.
Our armor entered Bernburg and reached a point two and one-half miles southeast of Dessau where the autobahn crosses the Mulde River. Köthen was cleared.
East of Köthen, our units moving south met others advancing north, thus closing a long narrow pocket of about 350 square miles which extends westward into the Harz Mountains.
Infantry units mopping up behind our armor reached Hasselfelde in the Harz Mountains and cleared Alsleben, south of Bernburg.
Our armor is at Bitterfeld, north of Leipzig. We are still fighting in Halle. Merseburg, to the south, has been cleared. East of Leipzig our armor reached the outskirts of Wurzen, the vicinity of Stockheim and Borna to the southwest, and cleared Colditz. Our armored units occupied Altenburg, and after a 23-mile advance are in the area north of Chemnitz. Southwest of Ronneberg we entered weida, Linda and Wildetaube and to the east we cleared Glauchau, except for a small pocket of resistance. We cleared Schleiz and reached the vicinity of Jössnitz north of Plauen. We reached Grobau north of Hof, which has been cleared and to the south our infantry is in the vicinity of Schwarzenbach and Weissenstadt.
Rail and other communications targets at Wittenburg; Zerbst, northwest of Dessau; Herzberg and Riesa, northwest of Dresden; and in Czechoslovakia were heavily attacked by medium, light and fighter-bombers. Heavy road movement was bombed around Riesa, Dresden and Chemnitz. Objectives ahead of our forward Ground elements near Dessau and Leipzig were attacked by other fighter-bombers.
Our infantry entered Nuremberg after a 20-mile advance from the northeast.
Our forces are just northeast of Rothenberg after a gain of five miles.
Southwest, towards Heilbronn, gains were made on a wide front. Fighter-bombers attacked targets ahead of our ground forces in the Heilbronn and Schwäbisch Hall areas.
In the Schwartzwald Forest north of Freudenstadt, a six-mile gain put our units in Igelsberg. In the Rhine Valley we took Offenburg and several other towns to the northwest toward Strasbourg. Forward elements drove 12 miles to the vicinity of Kürzell.
Allied forces in the west captured 66,767 prisoners 15 April.
In the Ruhr Pockets our armor reached Hilden and Haan. The one-time crack German Panzer Lehr Division, including its commanding general, his staff and 3,000 men surrendered to us at Iserlohn. An enemy corps, consisting of the remnants of three divisions and including four generals, 23 other officers and 5,000 men, also surrendered.
On the French West Coast, the town of Royan is now in our hands. Our infantry and tanks are clearing the fortified area surrounding the town.
The Arvers Peninsula is being mopped up. In the Pointe de Grave sector our units forced the enemy to withdraw beyond the St. Vivien l’Hopital Line.
An Allied naval task force operating off the mouth of the Gironde continued to bombard enemy positions. Spotting aircraft directed the warships’ fire. Artillery positions northwest of la Pointe de la Coubre and other targets along the estuary were attacked with high explosive and fragmentation bombs by strong formations of medium bombers.
In southern Germany, medium, light and fighter-bombers hit rail yards at Gunzenhausen, Reutlingen, Ulm and Herbertingen, and an ordnance depot at Kempten some 60 miles southwest of München.
In attacks on enemy airfields, fighters and fighter-bombers destroyed at least 827 aircraft on the ground and damaged a large number of others. During the day, 47 enemy aircraft were shot down.
German naval units at Swinemunde, on the Baltic Coast were attacked by escorted heavy bombers.
Last night, heavy bombers in strength attacked railway targets on each side of the German-Czechoslovak border. Targets in Berlin were bombed by light bombers.
COORDINATED WITH: G-2, G-3 to C/S
THIS MESSAGE MAY BE SENT IN CLEAR BY ANY MEANS
/s/
Precedence
“OP” - AGWAR
“P” - Others
ORIGINATING DIVISION
PRD, Communique Section
NAME AND RANK TYPED. TEL. NO.
D. R. JORDAN, Lt Col FA4655
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
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